Faulkner created an immense gallery of vivid and unforgettable characters in his portrayal of the southern social aftermath of the Civil War. In most of his novels set in the imaginary Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, he created a complex social structure from which he explored the southern past, race relations, and the alienation felt by his contemporaries in that volatile society. His career culminated with a Pulitzer Prize for "A Fable".