This Quiet Dust: And Other Writings

by William Styron

In an age when much American writing was either glacially noncommittal or heremetically personal, William Styron persisted in addressing great moral issues with incendiary passion. Seriousness and ardor characterize all the essays in This Quiet Dust, the first book of nonfiction by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Lie Down in Darkness and Sophie's Choice.

In this edition, which has been updated with the inclusion of six previously uncollected essays, Styron covers a wide range of concerns; yet whether he is recounting his search for the historic Nat Turner, peering into the abyss of Auschwitz, navigating the battlefields of Vietnam and Chicago in 1968, or offering fresh assessments of Thomas Wolfe, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, James Jones, and Robert Penn Warren, Styron is always a consummate literary stylist. One who is as engaging as he is engaged.

Genres: Essays, Fiction, Literary Criticism, Short Stories

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

William Styron (1925–2006), born in Newport News, Virginia, was one of the greatest American writers of his generation. Styron published his first book, Lie Down in Darkness, at age twenty-six and went on to write such influential works as the controversial and Pulitzer Prize–winning The Confessions of Nat Turner and the international bestseller Sophie’s Choice.

Reviews

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe 4+. Impressive, intelligent and revealing of the man behind the writing. If you like Styron you will really like these essays. If you don't know him these essays will make you want to read more. It is our loss that he did not write more novels but these essays make up for that.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prejudice in the US

[Bob Peru · Rating 4 out of 5]

styron. hero.

[Thom Dunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Title essay gives the background--from W.S's own experience--the context for Confessions of Nat Turner.

[Susan Emmet · Rating 5 out of 5]

"For this collection I have selected mainly those pieces which upon rereading seem to maintain their original integrity and interest, and have withstood the attrition of time. I think that it will be seen that this is a very personal book. The essays do not claim a great amplitude of range. Few are of an abstract or purely contemplative nature; virtually all of the pieces are the offshoot of either my occasional crotchets or perennial preoccupations...embedded in my works of fiction."

And so it goes for Styron - brilliantly, I think - in eleven sections.
They cover quarrels over "The Confessions of Nat Turner," his writing "habits," perhaps misplaced advocacy work on behalf of Benjamin Reid and the death penalty, travels along the Nile, musings on "The Big Love" and "Candy," life as a Marine/thoughts about William Calley/what drives wars in the twentieth century and beyond, the Holocaust, civil rights, eulogies for Robert Penn Warren, Peter Matthiessen, Willams Blackburn and Faulkner, Philip Rahv, James Jones, and Bennett Cerf, as well as the most personal section in which he recalls his education, writing mentors and beginnings, founding of the Paris Review, and reactions to his work.

Styron chose what to include. I like that. The body of his work as a writer is immensely important.

I plan to reread all his novels, in order, as my next task as a reader.
I've been away too long from Styron.

[Beth Roberts · Rating 3 out of 5]

Graceful and honest writing, but some of the selections are more worth reading than others. Some are brief segments from speeches (commencement addresses and the like); some are brief introductions to other books, his own and others'.

[Cee Watts · Rating 5 out of 5]

good

[Nicolas Olivari · Rating 2 out of 5]

A selection of essays....

[Sophy H · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been reading this on and off in work on my breaks (kept in my bag with a stash of edible treats!)

Honestly, I can see that its mildly interesting but not groundbreaking or overly profound. I found Styron's Darkness Visible a moving knockout of a piece of work, but this book didn't really do it for me.

Its average writing and jumps from one tedious topic to another.

Ended up skimming a lot of this to be fair.

[Herb Hastings · Rating 5 out of 5]

The essays in this collection are beautifully written. They cover literature, the author's life and politics. The ones covering the Viet Nam war anger and the pain call out to the reader. They are contemporary accounts of the war and the protests at the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention and bring into sharp focus the divisions into which this country split.
This book is worth spending time with.