William Faulkner lived here...

No, not really. But he could have, since it's right outside Oxford, Miss.

Directions to his old home, Rowan Oak, were as cryptic to me as his novels are to thousands of freshman lit students nationwide. I drove further down the winding road, stumbled upon a rickety porch, two grizzled old men, catfish and rusted sundry auto parts.

In its own way, this sighting itself paid homage to the man whose characters inspired the great Onion headline, "Ask a Faulknerian idiot man-child."

Take a walk in Memphis...