Dr. Charlie Wesley, Associate Professor of English at Daemen University, recently published an article, The Troubled Structures in William Faulkner and Gabriel García Márquez, in the peer-reviewed journal Explorations, Volume 12 (2024). 
Wesley’s interest in architecture and space inspired him to explore the historical relationship between William Faulkner and Gabriel García Márquez. “I discovered that both authors not only used architectural references as a metaphor of the history of the American South and the Caribbean, but also that both of them had intimate experiences working with architecture,” he said.
Wesley’s research included both primary texts and secondary criticism written by other literary scholars. He noted, “It’s not a secret that Faulkner was a big influence on Márquez. I knew that I wanted to try to compare and contrast these figures from a literary perspective. The key for me was determining that they also had some interesting overlap from a biographical perspective that was less written about.”
The decade-long project, most of which was completed in 2024, proved to be a fulfilling endeavor. Wesley added, “Writing an article is a journey that can be both exciting and frustrating. There ended up being a lot of connections between the two authors I hadn’t realized at the outset, so finding these little moments was fun. I was also lucky enough to present a version of this academic article at a conference in Atlanta, Georgia. I co-presented with Sally Wolff King, an eminent Faulkner scholar at Emory University. It was wonderful to share conversations and ideas with her.”
Wesley values keeping an ongoing dialogue between his teaching and research. “In the past I taught a class on Faulkner and Márquez at Daemen, and I would incorporate ideas from my article work into my lectures,” he said. “This is something I enjoy very much. Daemen students are great. They’re responsive to the material, and working with them helps me develop my own ideas.” Wesley anticipates sharing a new project with his Dystopian Literature class next semester.