How did Dean Faulkner’s death affect William Faulkner’s life?

In 1935, William Faulkner experienced profound personal tragedy when his youngest brother, Dean, died in a plane crash. Faulkner had previously purchased a Waco cabin aircraft, which he flew himself before gifting it to Dean and encouraging him to pursue a career as a professional pilot.

Following the crash, Faulkner was consumed by both grief and guilt over his role in his brother's death. This emotional turmoil had a lasting impact on his life and responsibilities; when Dean’s daughter was born in 1936, Faulkner took full responsibility for her education. Furthermore, scholars suggest that this traumatic experience may have contributed to the heightened emotional intensity found in his writing during that period, particularly in his masterpiece Absalom, Absalom!, which he was working on at the time.1