William Styron

William Styron is an American novelist, born in Newport News, Virginia on June 11, 1925. He is best known for two controversial novels: the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Confessions of Nat Turner (1967), narrated by Nat Turner, the leader of an 1831 Virginia slave revolt, and Sophie's Choice (1979) which deals with the Holocaust.

First novels

After his 1947 graduation, Styron took an editing position with McGraw-Hill in New York City. Styron later recalled the misery of this work in an autobiographical passage of Sophie?s Choice, and after provoking his employers into firing him, he set about his first novel in earnest. Three years later, he published the novel, the story of a dysfunctional Virginia family culminating in a young woman?s suicide, as Lie Down in Darkness (1951). The novel received overwhelming critical acclaim, including the prestigious Prix de Rome, but Styron?s recall into the Korean War prevented him from immediately following it. After his 1952 discharge for eye problems, Styron transformed the experience into his short novel, The Long March published serially the following year.

Related Topics:
1947 - McGraw-Hill - New York City - Lie Down in Darkness - Prix de Rome - Korean War - 1952 - The Long March - Following year

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Styron then sojourned in Paris, befriending Romain Gary, George Plimpton, Peter Mathiessen, James Baldwin, James Jones, and Irwin Shaw, among others; the group would found the famous Paris Review in 1953. The same year, Styron married author and critic Rose Styron, to whom he remains married to this day. Styron?s experiences of this period would later be recalled in Set This House on Fire (1960), a novel about intellectual American expatriates on the Riviera. The novel received at best mixed reviews, with several critics savaging the novel for what they called its melodrama and undisciplined structure.

Related Topics:
Romain Gary - George Plimpton - Peter Mathiessen - James Baldwin - James Jones - Irwin Shaw - Paris Review - Rose Styron - Set This House on Fire - 1960 - Expatriate - Riviera - Melodrama

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