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William Clark Styron Jr.

ウィリアム・クラーク・スタイロン・ジュニア

Wiriamu Kurāku Sutairon Junia

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1925-06-11 （Newport News, Virginia）
Died
2006-11-01 （Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts） age 81
Nationality
American
Languages
English
Religion
Episcopalian
Residence History
Newport News, Virginia → New York City → Paris → Rome → Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Essayist
Active Years
1951-2006
Affiliations
American Academy in Rome, The Paris Review
Memberships
Fellowship of Southern Writers
Influenced By
Thomas Wolfe, William Faulkner
Influenced
James Baldwin

Education

Davidson College
Faculty of Literature
Period: 1942-1943
Country: United States
Attended before transfer
Duke University
English Department
Degree: Bachelor of Arts
Period: 1943-1947
Year of Graduation: 1947
Country: United States
Part of U.S. Navy and Marine Corps V-12 program

Awards

Rome Prize
1951
Work: Lie Down in Darkness
Organization: American Academy in Rome
Result: Winner
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
1968
Work: The Confessions of Nat Turner
Organization: Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University
Result: Winner
William Dean Howells Medal
1970
Work: The Confessions of Nat Turner
Result: Winner
National Book Award for Hardcover Fiction
1980
Work: Sophie's Choice
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: Winner
Prix mondial Cino Del Duca
1985
Result: Winner
Edward MacDowell Medal
1988
Result: Winner
National Medal of Arts
1993
Organization: National Endowment for the Arts
Result: Winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Lie Down in Darkness

1951 Novel

Story of a dysfunctional family in Virginia.

Family dysfunctionSouthern life

The Long March

1956 Novella

A grueling march based on Marine Corps experience.

Military lifeEndurance
Adaptations
  • [TV drama] The Long March (1958)

The Confessions of Nat Turner

1967 Historical fiction

Fictional memoirs of slave rebel Nat Turner.

SlaveryRaceRebellion

Sophie's Choice

1979 Novel

Story of a Polish Catholic Holocaust survivor.

HolocaustMoral dilemmasMental illness
Adaptations
  • [Film] Sophie's Choice / Alan J. Pakula (1982)
  • [Opera] Sophie's Choice / Nicholas Maw (2002)

Darkness Visible

1990 Memoir

Account of the author's descent into depression.

DepressionSuicideMental health

Bibliography

  • Lie Down in Darkness
  • The Long March
  • Set This House on Fire
  • The Confessions of Nat Turner
  • In the Clap Shack
  • Sophie's Choice
  • This Quiet Dust
  • Darkness Visible
  • A Tidewater Morning

Adaptations

  • Sophie's Choice (film, 1982)
  • Shadrach (film, 1998)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Rich psychological depthSouthern Gothic influencesElegant prose
Recurring Motifs
Mental anguishRacial tensionsHistorical trauma

Health

  • Clinical depression
    1985頃-
    Led to writing of Darkness Visible

Legacy

Major 20th-century American novelist known for exploring race, depression, and the Holocaust; recipient of Pulitzer Prize and other honors.

Academic Societies

  • Fellowship of Southern Writers

Archives

  • Rubenstein Library, Duke University

In Popular Culture

  • Streets in Port Warwick, Virginia, named after characters from his novels (e.g., Nat Turner Boulevard).

Quotes

  • The pain of severe depression is quite unimaginable to those who have not suffered it, and it kills in many instances because its anguish can no longer be borne.
    Source: Vanity Fair (1989)

Trivia

  • Lost his mother to breast cancer at age 14.
  • His father also suffered from clinical depression.
  • Co-founder of The Paris Review.
  • Drafted for Korean War but discharged due to eye problems.