“A great book should leave you with
many experiences, and slightly exhausted. You should live several lives while
reading it.” – William Styron
Born in Virginia on this date in 1925, Styron started his publishing career as
a book editor right after graduating from Duke University in 1947. But, it quickly became apparent to him that
being an editor was not what he wanted. So,
he set about writing his first novel and three years later published, Lie
Down in Darkness, a multi-award winning story about a dysfunctional
Virginia family (who some thought reflected on his own growing up years).
After a stint in the Marine Corps
during the Korean War he wrote a short novel The Long March then
moved to Europe in 1953 where he helped found the magazine Paris Review,
still a celebrated literary journal more than 70 years later.
Styron wrote 15 novels, the best-known
and most awarded being Sophie’s Choice, which also won an
Academy Award for actress Meryl Streep after being adapted into a movie. Winner
of the National Book Award, it cemented his reputation as one of the 20th
century’s great novelists. Despite his many successes, he battled
debilitating depression and called writing a catharsis for overcoming it.
"I get a fine warm
feeling when I'm doing well, but that pleasure is pretty much negated by the
pain of getting started each day,” he said. “Let's face it, writing
is hell.”
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