Answer: A. It helps establish the fundamental role of the creative artist in society.
In these lines, Faulkner tells us that the award he received (the Nobel Prize) is not a recognition of him as a man or as an individual. Instead, it is a recognition of his work, and of the place his work has in the creation and development of the human spirit. The fact that he talks about the human spirit shows that he believes that art and creation have an important role to fulfill in society, and that the prize is an acknowledgement of this.
