About
William Styron was a major American writer of the 20th century. Born in Virginia, he served in the Marines during World War II before publishing his first novel, Lie Down in Darkness, in 1951. A co-founder of The Paris Review, he won the Pulitzer Prize for The Confessions of Nat Turner (1967) and the National Book Award for Sophie's Choice (1979). His memoir Darkness Visible (1990) broke the taboo of clinical depression. He received the National Medal of Arts in 1993.
* 1925-06-11 — † 2006-11-01
Major works
- Lie Down in Darkness (1951)novel
- The Confessions of Nat Turner (1967)novel
- Sophie's Choice (1979)novel
- Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness (1990)memoir
Key milestones
- 1952Co-founded The Paris Review with George Plimpton and Peter Matthiessen.
- 1968Won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Confessions of Nat Turner.
- 1990Published Darkness Visible, a landmark memoir about his clinical depression.
Themes
depression and mental healthhistory and racial injusticememory and traumaSouthern American identityredemption and guilt
Sources: findingaids.loc.gov · britannica.com