Set This House on Fire

Set This House on Fire, is a novel by William Styron, set in Italy whose themes are evil and redemption. The narrator is Leverett, a lawyer from the American Southeast, but the story is primarily told through the recollections of its main character, a troubled artist named Cass. The novel's title refers to a line from one of John Donne's epigraphs:

Related Topics:
Novel - William Styron - Italy - American Southeast - Artist - John Donne

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"His mercies hath applied His judgments, and hath shaked the house, this body, with agues and palsies, and set this house on fire with fevers and calentures, and frightened the master of the house, which is my soul, with horrors, and heavy apprehensions, and so made an entrance into me."

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This epigraph describes the basic theme of the novel: a troubled soul, the alcoholic Cass, is badly shaken by the "fire" of an encounter with evil, in the form of the aristocratic Mason Flagg. Ultimately, Cass' experiences with Flagg provide Cass with the inspiration he needs to redeem himself.

Related Topics:
Epigraph - Alcoholic - Aristocratic

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Like most of Styron's works, Set This House on Fire is concerned with sex and death, as well as with aspects of Styron's personal life -- in this case, the experience of growing up in Newport News, Virginia. The novel received mixed reviews, some of which criticized its supposed heavy-handedness (particularly in the character of Luigi, a police-officer-cum-philosopher) and slow pacing, thought to detract from the writing.

Related Topics:
Sex - Death - Newport News - Virginia - Police - Philosopher

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