William Styron
William Styron
William Clark Styron Jr.was an American novelist and essayist who won major literary awards for his work...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth11 June 1925
CityNewport News, VA
CountryUnited States of America
hands honor suffering
I thought there's something to be said for honor in this world where there doesn't seem to be any honor left. I thought that maybe happiness wasn't really anything more than the knowledge of a life well spent, in spite of whatever immediate discomfort you had to undergo, and that if a life well spent meant compromises and conciliations and reconciliations, and suffering at the hands of the person you love, well then better that than live without honor.
writing thinking hands
I try to get a feeling of what's going on in the story before I put it down on paper, but actually most of this breaking-in period is one long, fantastic daydream, in which I think about anything but the work at hand. I can't turn out slews of stuff each day. I wish I could. I seem to have some neurotic need to perfect each paragraph—each sentence, even—as I go along.
occur
It did not occur to me that there would be many difficulties to impede my ambition. . . .
basically black book heart incorrect man seize soul trying white written
Basically it is a very politically incorrect book written by a white man trying to seize his own interpretation and put it into the soul and heart of a black man.
american-novelist
And so we came forth, and once again beheld the stars.
american-novelist great leave lives several slightly
A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted. You should live several lives while reading it.
along constants core delights nice
They are the constants of life, at the core of life, along with nice little delights that come along every now and then . . . we all have them.
america fight seems various
In America there seems to be an idea that writing is one big cat-and-dog fight between the various parishioners of the craft.
added compose white
I could compose on white sheets, in longhand, but it would be an added handicap. . . .
american-novelist book exhausted good leave lives reading several slightly
A good book should leave you... slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading it.
book exhausted good leave lives reading several slightly
A good book should leave you... slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading it.
affected antithesis body close depression energy evident feels madness near psychic soon storm
The madness of depression is the antithesis of violence. It is a storm indeed, but a storm of murk. Soon evident are the slowed-down responses, near paralysis, psychic energy throttled back close to zero. Ultimately, the body is affected and feels sapped, drained.
witty voice giving
Like Hemingway and Faulkner, but in an entirely different mode, Fitzgerald had that singular quality without which a writer is not really a writer at all, and that is a voice, a distinct and identifiable voice. This is really not the same thing as a style; a style can be emulated, a voice cannot, and the witty, rueful, elegaic voice gives his work its bright authenticity.
struggle skins teeth
In the absence of hope we must still struggle to survive, and so we do-by the skin of our teeth.