Life is a phenomenon but not a novelty

To ease you into the weekend, a letter excerpt I’ve read many times. The year was 1944, and poet-editor-critic Malcolm Cowley was in the midst of compiling The Portable Faulkner, a meaty anthology of William Faulkner’s short stories and novel excerpts which, when published two years later, would breathe new life into the Faulkner’s fading career. The le…