Uncovered Letters Reveal A New Side Of William Styron

William Styron was one of the flamboyant literary figures of the 20th Century. He was a Southerner whose novel Lie Down in Darkness received immense acclaim when he was just 26 years old. He would go on to write the Confessions of Nat Turner, for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1968.

But for the last 27 years of his life, Styron did not write a novel. He battled depression, and wrote a seminal work about it, Darkness Visible, in 1990.

Styron’s literary voice, and life, were large. He and his wife, Rose, knew everyone, it seemed. They were hosts to presidents, poets and performers.