Sentence:  Faulkner 's total works today , and in fact those of his works which existed in 1946 when Mr. Cowley made his comment , or in 1939 , when Mr. O' Donnell wrote his <WSD>essay</WSD> , reveal no such simple attitude toward the South . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  an analytic or interpretive literary composition