{"product_id":"selected-letters-of-william-styron-william-styron-9781400068067","title":"Selected Letters of William Styron","description":"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, \u003ci\u003eLie Down in Darkness, \u003c\/i\u003e 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.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e 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 \u003ci\u003eThe Paris Review\u003c\/i\u003e. Literary critic Alfred Kazin described him as one of the postwar \"super-egotists\" who helped transform American letters. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e His controversial \u003ci\u003eThe Confessions of Nat Turner\u003c\/i\u003e won the 1968 Pulitzer Prize, while \u003ci\u003eSophie's Choice \u003c\/i\u003ewas awarded the 1980 National Book Award, and \u003ci\u003eDarkness Visible, \u003c\/i\u003e Styron's groundbreaking recounting of his ordeal with depression, was not only a literary triumph, but became a landmark in the field. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eAdvance praise for \u003ci\u003eSelected Letters of William Styron\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I first encountered Bill Styron when, at twenty, I read \u003ci\u003eThe Confessions of Nat Turner\u003c\/i\u003e. 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 \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"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 \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"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\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e William Styron\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1400068061\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781400068067\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Random House\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 12\/04\/2012\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 704\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 2.44lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.43h x 6.64w x 1.64d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/01\/2012 pg. 57\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 10\/22\/2012\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 11\/01\/2012\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/13\/2013 pg. 14\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 11\/15\/2012 pg. 7\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eShelf Awareness\u003c\/i\u003e 12\/18\/2012\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/10\/2013 pg. 32\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/20\/2013 pg. 22\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/01\/2013","brand":"William Styron","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":46838293823743,"sku":"9781400068067","price":40.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_e6780431-5db6-41d4-af6d-7895e345bea8.jpg?v=1746589382","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/selected-letters-of-william-styron-william-styron-9781400068067","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}