War of the Roses, II

Whoof. Somehow, I managed to get sucked back into that damn story. I just reread it and, yep, it's not something to just pick up before you go to bed. Because if you do, when you put it away, you can also put away any thought of sleeping with less than disturbing dreams...or at least, I'm assuming that from the way my mind is wandering at the moment.

Regardless, I did a little homework. That link about the "battle of Jefferson" bothered me: where the hell was this story supposed to be taking place? A little research reveals only two possible candidates on the basis of a "battle of Jefferson" happening nearby: Jefferson, TX (a skirmish, really), and Jefferson City, MO (basically, a series of battles fought for control over the city). There is reference on eBay to a battle bearing that name taking place in West Virginia, but given that the seller is vending goods commemorating the event, I'm skeptical as to the existence of such an event.

Moving from that, it doesn't seem reasonable to consider a Missouri town as a strictly Southern town. Emily is clearly operating by rules of the deep South (or at least the townspeople refer to her that way, and the narrative voice definitely mentions Southern social structures and obligations throughout the story). It just doesn't seem all that likely that there could be a character like Homer Baron, an explicit Northerner, the association with whom would tarnish Emily's Southern rep.

That seems to leave only Jefferson, TX, as a possible location. But that too seems dubious. From the few accounts I have managed to find, Jefferson, Texas is on the map in the same way that Quiet Riot is dominating the music scene right now. Simply put, the Jefferson of history seems to be rather small and very Texan, not at all what this story seems like.

If you're still reading this, you've probably realized I did this whole thing back asswards. Like a lobotomized Fr. Brown, I've been trying to hunt down the near-mythical battle of Jefferson, while the answer is staring me right in the face. As any free, plagiarizable essay online will tell you, this whole story is set in Jefferson, Mississippi, where Faulkner lived for a time.

Hey, at least the investigative reporting was good while it lasted. For a minute there, I somehow thought that no one else had seriously considered where this story might have taken place...my spirit is crushed, and I blame the literary analysis industry. Damn you, English professors everywhere!