Dry September

“Dry September,” by American author William Faulkner, is a short story that explores racial tension, violence, and moral decay in a small Southern town when a white woman’s accusation against a Black man leads to violence. The story, which unfolds in five parts, revolves around the rumors that Will Mayes, a Black man, assaulted or frightened a white woman, Miss Minnie Cooper. Without concrete evidence, the men of the town exact their revenge against Mayes. Presented in a nonlinear narrative style, the story jumps between different perspectives and culminates in the lynching of Mayes.

Set in rural Jefferson, Mississippi, in 1920, “Dry September” was first published by Scribner’s Magazine in 1932 and later reproduced in Faulkner’s first collection of short stories, These 13. Each story in the collection takes place in Yoknapatawpha (yok-nuh-puh-TAW-fuh) County, a fictional region invented by Faulkner to mimic the landscape of Lafayette County, where his hometown of Oxford was seated. Yoknapatawpha serves as the backdrop for many of the author’s early writings. It is characterized by its Southern Gothic atmosphere, intricate family histories, and sense of the decay and decline of the white Southern aristocracy.