New Releases by William Styron

A vital, illuminating collection of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner’s elegant, passionately engaged nonfiction My Generation is the definitive gathering of William Styron’s nonfiction, exposing the core of this greatly gifted, highly convivial, and profoundly serious artist from his literary emergence in the 1950s to his death in 2006. Here are fifty years of Styron’s essays, memoirs, reviews, op-eds, articles, eulogies, and speeches, reflecting the same brilliant style and informed thinking that he brought to his towering fiction and to a deeply committed public life. Including many newly collected and never-before-published items, this compendium ranges from the original mission statement of The Paris Review, which Styron helped found in 1953, to a 2001 tribute to his friend Philip Roth—creating an essential overview of arts and letters during the post–World War II years. In these pages, Styron writes vividly of childhood days in Tidewater Virginia spent going to movies, not reading books. (“It does not mean the death of literacy or creativity if one is drenched in popular culture at an early age.”) He recalls being among the group of soldiers who would have been sent to invade Japan and were saved by Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb, which Styron feels was the right choice, “even though its absolute rightness can never be proved.” And he writes as few others have about midlife battles with clinical depression, “a pain that is all but indescribable, and therefore to everyone but the sufferer almost meaningless.” Here, too, are Styron’s personal encounters with world leaders, fellow authors, and friends, each of whom comes memorably to life. Styron recalls sharing contraband Cuban cigars with JFK (“a naughty memento, a conversation piece with a touch of scandal”), getting lost in the snow with Robert Penn Warren, and party-hopping with the young James Jones (an experience he likens to “keeping company with a Roman emperor”). The beginnings of his masterpieces The Confessions of Nat Turner and Sophie’s Choice are chronicled here, along with the controversy that greeted the former upon its 1967 publication. Throughout, Styron celebrates the men and women of his generation, whose lives were forged in the crucible of World War II. Whether he’s recounting a walk with his dog, musing on the Modern Library’s list of the hundred best English-language novels of the twentieth century, or contemplating America’s fraught racial legacy from his point of view as the grandson of a woman who owned slaves, William Styron writes always in urgent, finely calibrated prose. These fascinating pieces bring readers closer to this great writer and the world he observed, interacted with, and changed. Praise for My Generation “William Styron’s My Generation: Collected Nonfiction is both unsurpassably charming and unflinchingly honest, whether recounting the fallout from The Confessions of Nat Turner or reminiscing about the slave-owning grandmother who warned him never to forget he was a Southerner.”—Vogue “At its most accomplished, Styron’s non-fiction mixes a conscientious, richly traditional prose style with a strong current of fellow feeling, a certain awe at the human condition, which is what gives power to his best fiction. . . . Styron stood tall in his generation, and the best of him will stand up over time.”—USA Today “A must for every Styron fan’s library.”—BBC

Chi è responsabile del suicidio della giovane Peyton Loftis? Suo padre Milton, debole e alcolizzato, legato a lei da un amore morboso? La madre Helen, incapace di affetto, gelidamente inflessibile e chiusa nel suo sterile puritanesimo e nei suoi odi meschini? O Peyton stessa, fragile e oppressa da oscuri sensi di colpa, che si è lasciata avvolgere da una spirale di follia autodistruttiva? Divisi da un''insanabile discordia, i Loftis sono spinti sull''orlo del baratro, e oltre, dagli stravizi del padre. In lotta contro se stessi, alla ricerca dell''innocenza perduta, di un qualsiasi spiraglio di autenticità e di luce, Milton, Helen e Peyton sono al tempo stesso vittime e carnefici della medesima tragedia, la domestic tragedy dell''uomo moderno che, in una soffocante cittadina del Sud degli Stati Uniti, può assumere le proporzioni di una catastrofe esistenziale. Un letto di tenebre, uscito nel 1951, segna l''esordio dalla voce potente di uno scrittore capace di costruire straordinarie architetture narrative.

In 1950, at the age of twenty-four, William Clark Styron, Jr., wrote to his mentor, Professor William Blackburn of Duke University. The young writer was struggling with his first novel, Lie Down in Darkness, and he was nervous about whether his “strain and toil” would amount to anything. “When I mature and broaden,” Styron told Blackburn, “I expect to use the language on as exalted and elevated a level as I can sustain. I believe that a writer should accommodate language to his own peculiar personality, and mine wants to use great words, evocative words, when the situation demands them.” In February 1952, Styron was awarded the Prix de Rome of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, which crowned him a literary star. In Europe, Styron met and married Rose Burgunder, and found himself immersed in a new generation of expatriate writers. His relationships with George Plimpton and Peter Matthiessen culminated in Styron introducing the debut issue of The Paris Review. Literary critic Alfred Kazin described him as one of the postwar “super-egotists” who helped transform American letters. His controversial The Confessions of Nat Turner won the 1968 Pulitzer Prize, while Sophie’s Choice was awarded the 1980 National Book Award, and Darkness Visible, Styron’s groundbreaking recounting of his ordeal with depression, was not only a literary triumph, but became a landmark in the field. Part and parcel of Styron’s literary ascendance were his friendships with Norman Mailer, James Baldwin, John and Jackie Kennedy, Arthur Miller, James Jones, Carlos Fuentes, Wallace Stegner, Robert Penn Warren, Philip Roth, C. Vann Woodward, and many of the other leading writers and intellectuals of the second half of the twentieth century. This incredible volume takes readers on an American journey from FDR to George W. Bush through the trenchant observations of one of the country’s greatest writers. Not only will readers take pleasure in William Styron’s correspondence with and commentary about the people and events that made the past century such a momentous and transformative time, they will also share the writer’s private meditations on the very art of writing. Advance praise for Selected Letters of William Styron “I first encountered Bill Styron when, at twenty, I read The Confessions of Nat Turner. Hillary and I became friends with Bill and Rose early in my presidency, but I continued to read him, fascinated by the man and his work, his triumphs and troubles, the brilliant lights and dark corners of his amazing mind. These letters, carefully and lovingly selected by Rose, offer real insight into both the great writer and the good man.”—President Bill Clinton “The Bill Styron revealed in these letters is altogether the Bill Styron who was a dear friend and esteemed colleague to me for close to fifty years. The humor, the generosity, the loyalty, the self-awareness, the commitment to literature, the openness, the candor about matters closest to him—all are on display in this superb selection of his correspondence. The directness in the artful sentences is such that I felt his beguiling presence all the while that I was enjoying one letter after another.”—Philip Roth “Bill Styron’s letters were never envisioned, far less composed, as part of the Styron oeuvre, yet that is what they turn out to be. Brilliant, passionate, eloquent, insightful, moving, dirty-minded, indignant, and hilarious, they accumulate power in the reading, becoming in themselves a work of literature.”—Peter Matthiessen

The Suicide Run collects five of William Styron’s meticulously rendered narratives based on his real-life experiences as a U.S. Marine. In “Blankenship,” Styron draws on his stint as a guard at a stateside military prison at the end of World War II. “Marriott, the Marine” and “The Suicide Run”—which Styron composed as part of an intended novel that he set aside to write Sophie’s Choice—depict the surreal experience of being conscripted a second time, after World War II, to serve in the Korean War. “My Father’s House” captures the frustration of a soldier trying to become a civilian again. In “Elobey, Annobón, and Corisco,” a soldier attempts to exorcise the dread of an approaching battle by daydreaming about far-off islands, visited vicariously through his childhood stamp collection. Perhaps the last volume from one of literature’s greatest voices, The Suicide Run brings to life the drama, absurdity, and heroism that forever changed the men who served in the Marine Corps.

The New York Times–bestselling memoir of crippling depression and the struggle for recovery by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Sophie''s Choice. In the summer of 1985, William Styron became numbed by disaffection, apathy, and despair, unable to speak or walk while caught in the grip of advanced depression. His struggle with the disease culminated in a wave of obsession that nearly drove him to suicide, leading him to seek hospitalization before the dark tide engulfed him. Darkness Visible tells the story of Styron''s recovery, laying bare the harrowing realities of clinical depression and chronicling his triumph over the disease that had claimed so many great writers before him. His final words are a call for hope to all who suffer from mental illness that it is possible to emerge from even the deepest abyss of despair and "once again behold the stars." This ebook features a new illustrated biography of William Styron, including original letters, rare photos, and never-before-seen documents from the Styron family and the Duke University Archives.

A New York Times bestseller by the author of Sophie''s Choice: Two Americans search for the truth about a mysterious long-ago murder in Italy. Shortly after World War II, in the village of Sambuco, Italy, two men—Virginia attorney Peter Leverett and South Carolina artist Cass Kinsolving—crossed paths with Mason Flagg. They both had their own reactions to the gregarious and charismatic movie mogul''s son. For the impressionable Peter, it was something close to awe. For the alcoholic Cass, it was unsettled rage. Then, after the rape and murder of a peasant girl, Mason''s body was found at the base of a cliff—an apparent suicide. He''d been distraught, the authorities said, over committing such a heinous crime. Peter and Cass went their separate ways, and never spoke of it again. Now, years later, Peter is still haunted by what he knows—and by what he doesn''t. He''s sought out Cass in Charleston for closure, and something close to the truth. Together both men will share their tales of that terrible season in Italy, each with their own ghosts—and their own reasons to exorcise them. But neither Peter nor Cass is prepared for where this path of revenge, complicity, and atonement will take them. A profound exploration of the evil that men do, and what the innocent must endure to accommodate it, Set This House on Fire is more than a byzantine murder mystery, it''s "one of the finest novels of our times" from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Confessions of Nat Turner, Darkness Visible, and other modern classics ( San Francisco Chronicle). This ebook features a new illustrated biography of William Styron, including original letters, rare photos, and never-before-seen documents from the Styron family and the Duke University Archives.

The author of Sophie''s Choice, "the foremost writer of his generation," portrays a rebellion by two marines on a miles-long march in the Carolina heat ( The Wall Street Journal). In the shadow of the Korean War, a series of misfired mortar shells kill six men in a marine camp during a training exercise, prompting the commanding officer to order a grueling punishment: a thirty-six mile march through the suffocating heat of the Carolina summer. Intended to beat discipline into the aging reservists, the march instead rankles marines Culver and Mannix, whose growing resentment of the brutal trek leads to an ultimate, powerful act of rebellion. Styron''s The Long March is a withering critique of a military system that leaves no room for dignity or personal identity. Told in part through flashbacks and dream sequences, the story is immersed in vivid language and philosophical reflection—a poignant defense of the individual in the face of attempted dehumanization. This short novel marks another triumph by the New York Times–bestselling author of Sophie''s Choice and Darkness Visible, who has been honored with both a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award, among other accolades. This ebook features a new illustrated biography of William Styron, including original letters, rare photos, and never-before-seen documents from the Styron family and the Duke University Archives.

This award-winning novel of love, survival, and agonizing regret in post–WWII Brooklyn "belongs on that small shelf reserved for American masterpieces" ( The Washington Post Book World). Winner of the National Book Award and a modern classic, Sophie''s Choice centers on three characters: Stingo, a sexually frustrated aspiring novelist; Nathan, his charismatic but violent Jewish neighbor; and Sophie, an Auschwitz survivor who is Nathan''s lover. Their entanglement in one another''s lives will build to a stirring revelation of agonizing secrets that will change them forever. Poetic in its execution, and epic in its emotional sweep, Sophie''s Choice explores the good and evil of humanity through Stingo''s burgeoning worldliness, Nathan''s volatile personality, and Sophie''s tragic past. Mixing elements from Styron''s own experience with themes of the Holocaust and the history of slavery in the American South, the novel is a profound and haunting human drama, representing Styron at the pinnacle of his literary brilliance. This ebook features an illustrated biography of William Styron, including original letters, rare photos, and never-before-seen documents from the Styron family and the Duke University Archives.

"Thoughtful, candid" essays from the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Sophie''s Choice ( The Christian Science Monitor). This Quiet Dust is a compilation of William Styron''s nonfiction writings that confront significant moral questions with precision and vigor. He examines topics as diverse as the Holocaust, the American Dream, and the controversy that raged around his Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, The Confessions of Nat Turner. In each entry, Styron expertly wields his powers of insight to slice through the most complex issues. This Quiet Dust offers a window into the philosophical underpinnings of Styron''s greatest novels and is the ideal entry for readers seeking a greater understanding into the work of one of America''s most celebrated authors. This ebook features a new illustrated biography of William Styron, including original letters, rare photos, and never-before-seen documents from the Styron family and the Duke University Archives.

From the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Sophie''s Choice: three novellas of a young writer''s journey to adulthood. In Love Day, twenty-year-old Paul Whitehurst is a Marine lieutenant during World War II, waiting to land on Okinawa, wrestling with anxiety and memories of his boyhood in Virginia. In Shadrach, ten-year-old Paul witnesses his neighbors as they welcome a guest: a ninety-nine-year-old former slave who has walked nine hundred miles from Alabama so that he may die on the land of his childhood owner. And in A Tidewater Morning, Paul is thirteen and struggling to deal with his mother''s impending death from cancer. Together in one volume, each of these affecting semiautobiographical novellas from the author of such literary classics as the Pulitzer Prize–winning The Confessions of Nat Turner and the memoir Darkness Visible, weaves together the transformative experiences of Whitehurst''s early life with William Styron''s signature deep historical insight, underscoring how the significance of the past informs the present. As the Los Angeles Times notes, it is "one of Styron''s finest works. . . . The beauty and humanity of the Southern tradition are evoked vividly." This ebook features a new illustrated biography of William Styron, including original letters, rare photos, and never-before-seen documents from the Styron family and the Duke University Archives.

"Nous ne croyons pas à l''Enfer, nous sommes incapables de l''imaginer, et pourtant il existe, on peut s''y retrouver brusquement au-delà de toute expression. Telle est la leçon de ce petit livre magnifique et terrible. Récit d''une dépression grave, avec son cortège "d''angoisses, d''insomnies, de rafales dévastatrices, de tentations de suicide", il nous montre pour la première fois ce qu''est réellement cette " tempête des ténèbres " intérieure qui peut frapper n''importe qui à chaque instant, mais peut-être plus particulièrement certains écrivains, ou artistes. Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, Romain Gary, Primo Levi, Van Gogh : la liste de ces proies désignées de l''ombre serait longue. Enfer, donc, comme celui de Dante, douleur sans autre issue que celle de l''autodestruction, état de transe incommunicable que ne soupçonnent pas les autres, pas même les psychiatres. Pourtant, la guérison est possible, on peut en tirer une connaissance nouvelle. Avec précision et courage, le grand romancier qu''est William Styron plaide ici à la fois pour une meilleure compréhension de notre prochain abîme dans l''horreur, et contre le goût du néant qui nous guette tous.

"It''s fascinating for me to read, for the first time in over forty years, the stumbling starts toward the creation of "Lie Down in Darkness." These passages show how, in my early twenties, I may have been in possession of a luminous vision for a novel but how it was a luminosity clouded by much indecision and awkwardness. . . . "Inheritance of Night," then, is made up of fragments of a beginning, bits of fruitful inspiration mingled with conceits that were stillborn."--William Styron, from the Preface

Brings together an interview with the Virginia-born writer, a bibliography of works by and about him, and critical studies of his novels and stories.

De liefde-haat verhouding van een Poolse ex-Auschwits gevangene en erudiete schizofrene jood gezien door de ogen van een jonge romanschrijver uit New York in 1947.

William Styron traces the betrayals and infidelities--the heritage of spite and endlessly disappointed love--that afflict the members of a Southern family and that culminate in the suicide of the beautiful Peyton Loftis.

Presents a fictionalized account of the 1831 slave revolt led by Nat Turner in Southampton County, Virginia.