Appreciating William Styron's Sophie's Choice

 I have read only one of Styron's novels, Sophie's Choice. That was while I was in prison. My notes on that experience are packed away, but will someday - hopefully - be seen here. I recommend reading it as does Andrew Ewell. I like what he says about the novel. It feels congruent with my memory - and picks up points I did not think of until I read his essay on LitHub, Wit: Andrew Ewell on William Styron’s Classic, Sophie’s Choice.

Sophie’s Choice is also a triumph of literary daring. In a brilliant and impressive narrational feat that comes off not in the least bit showy, Styron manages to absorb Sophie’s confession into the novel’s intrinsic structure almost without our noticing. By seamlessly weaving a close third-person account of her experience into Stingo’s first-person, these harrowing passages of evil and depravity (as well as resilience) immerse the reader not only in the story of Sophie’s past, but also in Stingo’s honest attempt to make sense of it in the present. The device feels less like metafictional pyrotechnics and more like that most primordial act of human intimacy: storytelling.

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In his audacious, wide-ranging, hugely entertaining, and deeply moral exploration of evil, passion, madness, love, and guilt, Styron reminds us that storytelling—that is, the attempt to penetrate experience with language; the attempt, however feeble, to understand—isn’t an intrusion upon the lives of others, but is in fact an affirmation of all that which connects us—namely, compassion, empathy, imagination, intelligence, and, yes, humor.

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