Reminiscences of William Styron, 1986-1987

Biographical Note

Author

Scope and Contents

Styron, William Clark (1925-2006). Childhood in Newport News, Virginia: Presbyterian upbringing, father's stern discipline, mother's early death of cancer; student at Davidson College; A.B., Duke University, 1947; work in disciplinary barracks on Hart's Island, New York [NY]: basis of story "Blankenship"; United States Marine Corps [USMC] in Officer Candidate School and as drill instructor, 1944-1945, 1951; military experience as basis of novella "The Long March"; student of writing at New School for Social Research, New York City, 1947; writing of novel "Lie Down in Darkness" in Brooklyn and Manhattan, NY, 1949-1951; relationship to traditional image of Southern Gothic writer; troubled friendship and falling-out with Norman Mailer; writing of "Confessions of Nat Turner", discussions of race with friend James Baldwin; novel "Sophies Choice", Holocaust survivor upon whom character in story is based; struggle with clinical depression: hypochondriacal elements, addiction to prescription anti-depressants, panic attacks, suicidal thoughts, dependence upon wife and friends, hospitalization; reminiscences of fellow writers

Subjects

• Authors--Interviews.
• Baldwin, James, 1924-1987.
• Depressed persons--Interviews.
• Depression, Mental.
• Interviews.
• Mailer, Norman.
• Novelists, American--Interviews.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Styron, William, 1925-2006--Interviews.
• Styron, William, 1925-2006.--Confessions of Nat Turner.
• Styron, William, 1925-2006.--Lie down in darkness.
• Styron, William, 1925-2006.--Long march.
• Styron, William, 1925-2006.--Sophie's choice.
• West, James L. W., interviewer.--http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/ivr

Access Conditions

Copyright by The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, 1988