Havanas in Camelot: Personal Essays

Superb book by a great writer. William Styron's command of the English language is unsurpassed. Wish he would have written more.

Although he wrote precious little, compared to some of his contemporaries, surely William Styron was one of the best American writers of his generation and produced fiction that will be read as long as there are any readers left. I would argue that SOPHIE'S CHOICE is one of the ten best twentieth century novels by an American writer even though Shelby Foote didn't care for it. It is a treat then to have this posthumous collection of essays to read, most of which have been previously published in magazines and newspapers. There are fourteen in all on a variety of subjects. In "Havanas in Camelot," the first essay included and from which the volume is named, Mr. Styron manages to capture the magic of the short Kennedy years and makes us realize that we will probably never see such glamour in government again. In his essays on other writers, James Baldwin who lived at his home briefly, Truman Capote whom he graciously acknowledges affected his own writing-- at least his first novel LIE DOWN IN DARKNESS-- and Mark Twain, Styron reveals a great deal about himself, that he apparently had both great respect and affection for other writers sans jealousy, a quality not always found in even the most talented and successful of artists. These essays are called "personal," as indeed they are. Mr. Styron, as is the case with many writers whose background is Southern, does not always take the shortest route home; but the walk is always a pleasant one. I had not seen the phrase "sine qua non" in print in years. It is thrilling to see Ayn Rand described as "hectoring." And the writer's view of the Christian religion is worth remembering. He sees it, at least in its "puritanical rigors--as a conspiracy to deny its adherents their fulfillment as human beings. . . High among its prohibitions was sexual pleasure." That puritanism of course leads to censorship, whether it be the refusal to publish a work of literature or the insistence of editors that words be changed (in LIE DOWN IN DARKNESS, Styron had to change "ass" to "bottom" to satisfy his publisher) or the policing librarian intent on perserving the morals of the youth. The writer's remembrance of the humiliation of being told by Miss Evans, the librarian of Styron's hometown library in Tidewater Virginia that at fourteen he was too young to read Steinbeck's GRAPES OF WRATH made me smile since my own mother took the book away from me when I was about thirteen. My grandmother had read it and did not find it the sort of novel that I should be reading. Mr. Styron certainly made up for lost time as SOPHIE'S CHOICE is replete with four-letter words and here he discusses in "A Case of the Great Pox" syphilis in the military and tells us more than we ever need to know about his urinary problems in "Too Late for Conversion or Prayer." A contemporary of his, the great Eudora Welty-- something tells me-- would have remained mum on the subject. There is, as I said, much to enjoy on the walk home, not the least of whic

This brief collection of essays and personal reminiscences will bring up memories of your own if you've read and enjoyed Styron's novels, and his previous essays/memoirs collection, "This Quiet Dust". My favorite novelist of the second half of the 20th century, I'm in that admiring group that wants to read every scrap that he wrote; but Styron writes so well, and draws the reader in with his self-effacing humor & curiosity about matters large and small, I can see those who've never read his novels finding these pieces worthwhile. Though the essays on Mitterand, Mark Twain, and the daily dog-walk were the highlights for me, I suppose the JFK stories will hold the most interest for the majority of readers, and the publisher was pushing that side of the book in advance of the release. Styron had that gift of making one take interest in ideas and subjects that one never took notice of or bothered with before. Admirers and fans will want this, however short the book may be, but newcomers to his writing may want to start with the superior collection of short pieces, "This Quiet Dust". And then dive into some of the english language's greatest novels.