Faulkner, William

Combination typescript and carbon typescript of the play version of Requiem for a Nun, with a number of additions, corrections, and deletions in the author's hand in blue ink and pencil, 182 pages on 165 leaves (11 1/4 x 8 5/8 in; 286 x 220 mm) of various types of paper including onion skin and ruled writing paper, [Oxford, Mississippi, New York, and Cambridge, Massachusetts, c. June 1951–May 1952]; a few leaves with frayed edges, marginal stains, or small tears, generally not affecting text.

Blotner, Faulkner: A Biography, 2, pp. 1399, 1405, 1407, 1717

Condition as described in catalogue entry.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Temple Drake: "All right. How much will I have to tell?" Gavin Stevens: "Everything."  William Faulkner's working draft of the stage version of Requiem for a Nun, with his autograph additions, corrections and deletions.

Faulkner's experimental novel, Requiem for a Nun, was published in October 1951.  The book comprises three acts in theatrical dialogue, each with a monumental prose preface.  The work might have remained a closet drama had it not been for the efforts of Mississippi-born actress Ruth Ford, who urged Faulkner to adapt the book as a stage play for her.  The idea appealed to him; and in the fall of 1951, he, Ford, producer Lemuel Ayers, and a young director from Harvard, Albert Marre, gathered in New York for story conferences.  After the conferences, Marre needed to return to Cambridge for work and Faulkner decided to go with him and continue the project.  He and Marre worked diligently on the script throughout the fall.  Joseph Blotner describes their working methods: "They would consider different possibilities for interaction among the characters, what they would do onstage in a certain scene.  These attempts were usually frustrating. 'I don't get the idea of what you mean about the action,' Faulkner would say.  'Dummy up the scene.'  Marre would begin to tell him what he meant.  'No! Don't tell me,' the author would say. 'Write the goddamn thing.'  Marre would then sit at the typewriter and peck out what were to him 'dead-ass lines,' but Faulkner would lean over, scratch out words, add a few, and suddenly, thought Marre, the line was his and it had life."  The present draft includes numerous pages of Faulkner's dialogue and Marre's stage directions typed on ruled writing paper by Marre and re-worked by Faulkner in ink and pencil.  In a page reworking a portion of Act 1, scene 3, all of which has been scored through with a single red vertical line, ten lines of dialogue have beed crossed through in ink by Faulkner.  These lines directly follow Faulkner's most quoted (and misquoted) line, spoken by character Gavin Stevens: "The past is never dead.  It's not even past."  Faulkner eliminates a clumsy response by Temple Drake and the lines that follow it.  He replaces them with two economical lines in ink in the left margin: "Temple.  All right.  How much will I have to tell?  Stevens.  Everything."  Below the lines is what appears to be a coffee stain. By the time the acting version of the play was published in 1959, the lines would be revised again.  The present draft contains over twenty revisions in Faulkner's hand.  In addition, the last leaf contains a rudimentary pencil sketch of a stage set, most likely by Marre.

The play would not open on Broadway for another seven years.  In the meantime, it proved to be a huge success in Europe.  Faulkner himself attended productions in Munich and Athens.  Famed director Erwin Piscator staged the play in Berlin and Zurich.  Albert Camus translated, adapted, and directed a legendary production in Paris in 1956.  Then in 1958, British director Tony Richardson brought  the play to a West End theater in London for its first production in English, starring Ruth Ford and her husband, actor Zachary Scott.  The play was a resounding success, both with London critics and audiences.  In January of 1959 the play transferred to Broadway, where it received tepid reviews and had a limited run.  Faulkner declined to attend the New York premiere, saying he had already seen the play performed in German and Greek and did not need to see it again.  He also pointed out that it was bird season and he did not want to miss the shooting. When asked by Harold Ober why he had undertaken this arduous project, Faulkner remarked, "I have known Miss Ford a long time, admire her rather terrifying determination to be an actress, and wrote this play for her to abet it."

The present manuscript has an immediacy and great visual liveliness, showing Faulkner grapling with the practicalities of preparing his drama for the stage.  It is an essential document for understanding the author's only attempt to write for the theater after Marionettes (1920).