The Library of Congress announced it will house the refrigerator poetry magnets William Faulkner used at his home in Oxford, Mississippi when he had writer’s block.
The magnetic words were used in the creation in many of Faulkner’s modernist, stream of consciousness passages found in As I Lay Dying and The Sound and the Fury.
Faulkner would use stream of consciousness to give his essays the impression of human psychology, exploring and exposing the unspoken thoughts of his characters.
The featured crown jewels of the collection are some phrases and fragments from Benjy’s section in The Sound and the Fury and Faulkner’s broken, humorous message to his wife to “be naked when get home.”
In fact, every passage narrated from the perspective of Vardaman, the youngest and mentally slow sibling of the Bundren children in As I Lay Dying, were created using a magnetic poetry kit.
“Passages like ‘My mother is a fish’ and his description of the barn most certainly were created by fridge magnets,” said Head Congress Librarian, Carla Hayden.
“These magnets are truly a national treasure. To think that these fridge magnets helped create some of the most memorable passages in American literature.”
The magnets will be kept in their current sequence found on Faulkner’s Sears Coldspot Electric Refrigerator from his Rowan Oak kitchen. Figure Faulkner used the magnets pretty regularly as he constantly topped off his cold toddy glass with the giant pitcher in the fridge.
The featured crown jewels of the collection are some phrases and fragments from Benjy’s section in The Sound and the Fury and Faulkner’s broken, humorous message to his wife to “be naked when get home.”
The Library of Congress is also pursuing the acquisition of magnetic poetry kits from Henry James, William Carlos Williams, and Jack Kerouac.
“These authors have no idea the historical significance that their poetry word kits might have. “George Washington’s Commission,” “The Emancipation Proclamation,” and Faulkner’s reminder to ““buy more booze” are truly top treasures within the Library.”