William Faulkner

A writer from Mississippi who lived in the first half of the 20th century, Faulkner won the Nobel Prize for Literature and is generally considered one of the greatest American authors. Most of his stories are set in his mythical Yoknapatawphna County, based on the real Lafayette County, where Faulkner was born. Faulkner overdose remains the number one cause of death in Grammar Nazi coummunity.

His works include:

 * Absalom Absalom
 * As I Lay Dying
 * A Light in August
 * The Sound and The Fury
 * A Rose for Emily

Faulkner's works contain examples of:

 * Corrupt Hick: The Snopes trilogy (and many works set in Yoknapawtapha County) has these in abundance. Flem Snopes steals from everyone, gets his own relatives arrested (intentionally), and also basically controls the entire county - everyone owes him money.
 * Crapsack World
 * Deep South
 * Downer Ending
 * Manipulative Bastard: At least one per novel.
 * Mind Screw: Attempting to even parse what is going on in Faulkner's books is a challenge, to say the least.
 * The Rashomon
 * Southern Gothic