RIP William Styron

One of my favorite writers passed away yesterday at the age of 81. William Styron was born in Newport News VA, which is where I was born. His novels were to me a revelation when I discovered them in college. The Confessions of Nat Turner, Lie Down in Darkness, and Sophie's Choice are some of the finest American novels of the last half of the 20th century. Styrons early novels chronicled life in the South and explored the lifes of the black and white denizons of Tidewater Virginia. To me he was a natural heir to Faulkner, but his prose had much in common with Hemingway and even Fitzgerald. The Confessions of Nat Turner chronicled the only slave insurrection in the US that almost succeded, and it is a riveting fictional account of Turner and the event. The insurrection took place in Southampton County Va, which is adjacent to Isle of Wight County where I grew up. I remember after reading the book, driving to Southampton and looking for the state historical marker that chronicled such an important event in history, to my shock there was no mention of the rebellion, this was in the early 1990's. A group of historians and writers including Styron appealed for some recognition of the event and a marker was put up, but the event showed to me how dark and buried the past was in my native Tidewater. Styron was a gifted writer and a brave person who chronicled his bout with crippling depression in his memoir Darkness Visable. Styron's death has robbed us of one of our finest writers.