William Faulkner Reading Order

19 books (1943–2018)

This 19-book anthology series spans from 1943 to 2018 and features William Faulkner's work alongside stories by other authors in various compilations. The series is complete and should be read in publication order, beginning with World's Great Mystery Stories. Each volume focuses on different themes and periods, including mystery, horror, magical realism, and regional American fiction, making them accessible as individual collections while forming a broader retrospective when read sequentially.

Start with World's Great Mystery Stories, the first of 19 books in the Anthologies series.

#	Title
1	World's Great Mystery Stories 1943Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	50 Great Short Stories 1952Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Short Story Masterpieces: 35 Classic American and British Stories from the First Half of the 20th Century 1954Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Writers At Work: The Paris Review Interviews 1957Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	50 Great American Short Stories 1963Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Stories of the Modern South 1977Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	The Best Horror Stories 1977Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	65 Great Tales Of Horror 1981Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	Magical Realist Fiction 1984Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	Louisiana Stories 1990Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	Volume II: The Medusa In The Shield 1990Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
12	Growing Up in the South 1991Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
13	The Short Story: 30 Masterpieces 1992Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
14	First Fiction: An Anthology of the First Published Stories by Famous Writers 1994Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
15	40 Short Stories: A Portable Anthology 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
16	The Best American Mystery Stories of the Century 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
17	The Best American Short Stories of the Century 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
18	Writing Los Angeles 2002Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
19	Writers: Their Lives and Works 2018Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

1 book (1981–1981)

#	Title
1	Road to Glory(With: Joel Sayre) 1981Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

6 books (1930–1996)

William Faulkner's short stories and novellas collection spans from 1930 to 1996 and comprises six works that should be read in publication order: A Rose for Emily, Wash, The Bear, Mayday, The Marionettes, and Barn Burning. This complete series showcases Faulkner's mastery of the short form across nearly seven decades of his literary career.

Start with A Rose for Emily, the first of 6 books in the Short Stories/Novellas series.

#	Title
1	A Rose for Emily 1930Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Wash 1934Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	The Bear 1942Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Mayday 1978Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	The Marionettes 1978Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Barn Burning 1996Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

17 books (1927–2018)

William Faulkner's short story collections span nearly a century of publication from 1927 to 2018, comprising 17 complete volumes that should be read in publication order. Beginning with Wishing Tree and progressing through landmark collections like These 13, Go Down, Moses, and Knight's Gambit, these works showcase Faulkner's distinctive narrative style across multiple story cycles and standalone pieces. The series includes both widely anthologized stories and lesser-known works, with later volumes assembling previously uncollected material and selections from his broader body of short fiction.

Start with Wishing Tree, the first of 17 books in the Short Story Collections series.

#	Title
1	Wishing Tree 1927Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	These 13 1931Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Doctor Martino and Other Stories 1934Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Barn Burning and other stories 1939Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Go Down, Moses 1942Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Collected Stories 1948Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Knight's Gambit 1949Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	Big Woods 1955Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	Selected Short Stories 1956Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	New Orleans Sketches 1957Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	Three Famous Short Novels 1958Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
12	Marble Faun and a Green Bough 1960Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
13	Uncle Willy and Other Stories 1967Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
14	Jealousy and Episode 1977Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
15	Uncollected Stories of William Faulkner 1979Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
16	The Essential Faulkner 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
17	Ole Miss Juvenilia 2018Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

7 books (1929–1950)

William Faulkner's Sin and Salvation series comprises seven complete novels published between 1929 and 1950, beginning with Sartoris and concluding with Requiem for a Nun. The series should be read in publication order to follow the interconnected narratives and recurring characters across Faulkner's fictional Mississippi landscape. This ambitious cycle explores themes of moral transgression, redemption, and the weight of the past through modernist narrative techniques and complex temporal structures.

Start with Sartoris, the first of 7 books in the Sin and Salvation series.

#	Title
1	Sartoris 1929Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	The Sound and the Fury 1929Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	As I Lay Dying 1930Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Sanctuary 1931Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Light in August 1932Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Absalom, Absalom! 1936Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Requiem for a Nun 1950Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

10 books (1926–1973)

William Faulkner's standalone novels comprise ten works published between 1926 and 1973, representing a complete collection that should be read in publication order. Beginning with Soldiers' Pay and concluding with Flags in the Dust, this series includes acclaimed titles such as Sanctuary, The Reivers, and A Fable, each functioning as an independent work rather than part of an interconnected narrative arc.

Start with Soldiers' Pay, the first of 10 books in the Standalone Novels series.

#	Title
1	Soldiers' Pay 1926Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Mosquitoes 1927Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Pylon 1935Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	The Unvanquished 1938Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	The Wild Palms / If I Forget Thee Jerusalem 1939Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Intruder in the Dust 1948Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	A Fable 1954Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	Sanctuary and Requiem for a Nun 1954Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	The Reivers 1962Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	Flags in the Dust 1973Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

3 books (1987–1991)

The Dark Descent is a three-book series by William Faulkner published between 1987 and 1991. The complete series consists of Volume I: The Color of Evil, Volume II: The Medusa In The Shield, and Volume III: A Fabulous, Formless Darkness, and should be read in publication order. This is a closed series with no additional volumes planned.

Start with Volume I: The Color of Evil and read in order.

#	Title
1	Volume I: The Color of Evil 1987Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Volume II: The Medusa In The Shield 1990Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Volume III:A Fabulous, Formless Darkness 1991Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

3 books (1940–1959)

William Faulkner's Snopes Trilogy chronicles the rise of the Snopes family in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi across three novels published between 1940 and 1959. The series should be read in publication order, beginning with The Hamlet, followed by The Town, and concluding with The Mansion. This complete trilogy traces the family's ascent from rural poverty to economic and social prominence through cunning and ruthlessness. Each novel deepens and expands the narrative, revealing new perspectives and consequences of the Snopes family's ambitions.

Start with The Hamlet and read in order.

#	Title
1	The Hamlet 1940Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	The Town 1957Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	The Mansion 1959Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible