William Styron, a life

521 Pages·2010·3.99 MB·English

by  Styron

William Styron, A Life
James L. W. West III
For my sons
JAMES • THOMAS • WILLIAM
And I gave my heart to know wisdom,
and to know madness and folly:
I perceived that this also
is vexation of spirit.
For in much wisdom is much grief:
and he that increaseth knowledge
increaseth sorrow.
—ECCLESIASTES 1:17–18
CONTENTS
Preface
Preamble
1. Ancestors
2. Youth
3. Newport News
4. Pauline’s Death
5. Fourteenth Year
6. Christchurch
7. Davidson
8. Duke and William Blackburn
9. Marines, First Stint
10. After the War
11. McGraw-Hill
12. Durham and Flatbush
13. Valley Cottage and West Eighty-eighth Street
14. Marines, Second Stint
15. Lie Down in Darkness
16. Paris, 1952
17. The Long March
18. Rome
19. Marriage and Ravello
20. New York and Roxbury
21. Mailer and Others
22. Completion
23. Set This House on Fire
24. Reentry
25. Preparations
26. Composition
27. The Confessions of Nat Turner
28. Aftermath
29. Interlude
30. Sophie’s Choice
31. Breakdown
32. “A Tidewater Morning”
Coda
Images from William Styron’s Life
Sources and Notes
Acknowledgments
Index
Preface
I began this biography in 1985 and published it in 1998. The work, from
beginning to end, was pleasurable and purposeful. Much writing by academics,
including some writing that I have published, attracts a small audience and has a
short shelf life. A learned friend of mine used to say that the last person who
read most of what he had published was very likely the man who set the type.
This biography, I trust, will have a longer life span and a broader readership than
that.
When I began this project, I could not have conceived of the ebook, a method
of literary production that will now make the story of William Styron’s life
available to millions of readers in digital form. It’s second nature to think of
such texts today—and even of writing books that are meant to exist only in
virtual form. I composed this biography using traditional practices. I wrote in
longhand, sitting in a basement room with only my cat for company. I used black
rollerball pens and wrote always on white lined pads. There was a tactile feeling
to the work: I inscribed the words quickly, sometimes in a kind of shorthand,
then revised so thoroughly that the handwritten sheets, which I still possess, have
a comfortably messy look. Next, I typed the chapters into an old computer
which, as I recall, did not have a mouse (you moved the cursor around with the
up-and-down and side-to-side buttons). Then came the printer, a little workhorse
that had an idiosyncrasy: it would print one page, then spit out a blank, then print
the next page, then fire another blank, and so on to the end of the file. I would
separate the blank sheets from the printed ones, insert the blanks back into the
paper tray, and forge on.
Midway through the compositional process, at the end of Chapter 23 (just
after Styron has published Set This House on Fire), I thought of making this
biography into a double-decker, a two-volume treatment. I could publish the first
half, then finish the rest as time and inclination allowed. Today I am glad I
abandoned that notion and pushed through to the end. I have heard since of too
many biographers who postponed publication until very late in their lives. As a
result they had only a few years in which to see their work incarnate or, worse,
never finished their books at all.
It would have pleased William Styron to know that his works are available
from Open Road. His writings will now reach readers through digital
technology, ever evolving, enhanced by photographs and moving images and
commentary from those who knew him. When Styron published Lie Down in
Darkness in 1951, he was working in a print marketplace that had not changed in
its essentials since the 1880s. As he moved through his career, however, he saw
dramatic changes in the ways in which books were produced and sold. He would
not have been surprised by further developments. Lie Down in Darkness, Set
This House on Fire, and The Confessions of Nat Turner were typeset in hot
metal and printed on relief presses; Sophie’s Choice, Darkness Visible, and A
Tidewater Morning were set on computers and printed by photo-offset.
Paperbacks changed from a sideshow to a powerful force in the publishing world
during the 1960s; they played a major role in creating the readership of Nat
Turner. Chain bookstores entered in the 1970s and brought Sophie’s Choice to
thousands of readers. Audiobooks came soon thereafter and made Darkness
Visible available for listening instead of reading. Styron was open to any form of
publication that would reach the people who wanted to know what he had to say.
He was never a coterie writer; he aimed to have numerous readers and achieved
that goal, with three books that reached the top of the New York Times bestseller
list and with sales, worldwide, in the millions. He too was a traditional worker:
He composed in pencil on long yellow pads and was only a hunt-and-peck typist,
but he understood that his words and thoughts could be transmogrified by new
technologies without losing their force or meaning.
I miss working on this biography. Other projects now occupy me, but none
has been as satisfying as this one. The structuring of narrative, the blending of
voices, the marshalling of facts, the interweaving of strands of evidence—all of
this was exciting for me, quickening to the intellect. I am glad that I published
this book when I did, while Styron was alive and could hold it in his hand. I am
equally glad that this biography will continue to live in the digital world and will
now find a new generation of readers.
J. L.W.W. III
15 June 2010
PREAMBLE
If one wishes to know William Styron, one must walk with him. That is to say,
one must go with him on his daily walk for exercise. It is a ritual that he rarely
misses; usually he takes the walk alone, though sometimes he goes with his wife
or a friend or visitor. The walk covers between four and five miles unless the
weather is bad, in which case it is abbreviated.
Preparations for the walk begin around three o’clock with the calling of the
dogs. There are two dogs just now, both females—a golden retriever named
Tashmoo and a black Labrador named Dinah. Tashmoo is sweet-tempered and
shy; Dinah is brash and adventurous. Styron is devoted to them both but is
especially fond of Dinah, who amuses and exasperates him. He summons the
dogs by hooting at them: “Baby! Hooo! Come to Daddy! Hooo! Come on!” The
dogs, attuned to the schedule, are ready. Dinah appears, dirty and panting;
Tashmoo, who has been resting, trots over to Styron and waits. An old coat is
spread over the backseat of the car, and the dogs jump in. Styron and his guest
settle into the front seats; Styron starts the engine and puts the car into motion.
Styron almost always drives to the beginning point of a walk. He has explored
and measured off many walking paths near his two homes, and he rarely takes
the same walk two days in a row. The paths themselves are far from automobile
traffic, but one must drive through traffic to reach them. Styron operates the car
skillfully; he drives impatiently and a little too fast. On the way he announces
the location and direction of our walk for the day, then talks baby talk to Dinah,
who licks the back of his head and bites his ears while he is driving.
Styron arrives at the starting point, sets the dogs loose, and begins the walk.
He takes the first half-mile at a relaxed amble, to loosen the muscles; then he
settles into a steady pace that accelerates the heartbeat and gives the lungs a
workout. Though seventy-two years old, Styron can outwalk many men twenty
or thirty years his junior. He walks with a spraddle-legged gait, slightly slew-
footed, and leans forward from the waist. The exercise is good for his bronchial
troubles; he clears his throat and blows his nose frequently on these walks,
especially during the winter.
The conversation on the walks is good. Sometimes Styron talks about