SOLDIER'S PAY was Faulkner's first novel. V lete 1925, pracujúci v New Orleans, Faulkner met Sherwood Anderson, ktorý bol navrhnutý na jeho písanie a novely. Unlike jeho nedávne knihy, tento post-war story z wounded, helpless and dying officer returning home to jeho otec a jeho fickle sweetheart je set v Georgia, ale Faulkner's powerful; depiction z južnej, a jeho extraordinary charakter, are already evident.