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Unearthed Styron treasures explore his time in Marines

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By KATHY L. GREENBERG

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 4, 2009

"The Suicide Run: Five Tales of the Marine Corps," by William Styron (Random House, $24)

Pulitzer Prize-winning author William Styron served in the Marine Corps during World War II. From the 1950s through the 1970s, he wrote several stories about his military experiences - or at least began them before depressive episodes interrupted his work. A handful of these stories have been published posthumously (Styron died in 2006) in "The Suicide Run."

"Blankenship" is about a conscientious officer at a stateside military prison who proves that the men in charge are not the ones running the show.

A nearly disastrous road trip in "The Suicide Run," in which dumb luck dictates who lives and who dies, becomes a metaphor for war.

Told through the eyes of a disdainful writer who has been reconscripted for the Korean War, "Marriott, the Marine" is a study in contrasts: Paul Marriott, the educated, worldly lieutenant colonel who defies military stereotypes; Darling P. Jeeter, the writer's roommate who might be the poster boy for the Marine Corps and a lesson in inbreeding; Jeeter's dying father, whose legendary heroics trump human intellect.

"My Father's House" and "Elobey, Annobón, and Corisco" weigh memories of home and security in the familiar against warfare's unnatural power to displace and terrorize. Unlike the above, neither of these narrations has been published before now.

While the author expresses a certain degree of awe for the Corps, his contempt for conflict and the military paradigm is even more evident. He sums up his impressions with cutting succinctness in "Marriott, the Marine": "Suddenly I understood that despite Paul's vivid anecdotal style I really didn't give a damn how the old fart had gotten his Medal of Honor - and this was truly still a measure of my disaffection with the Corps and all it stood for."

As evidenced here, Styron was a consummate wordsmith. His passion and fluency for language overwhelm the pages of this slim volume. Each story proves the author's gift for tempering the serious with wonderfully facetious, biting humor. He articulates the most elusive feelings, an assurance to grateful readers that someone in the world understands.

Styron fans will delight in these unearthed literary treasures. And for anyone unfamiliar with but curious about his work, "The Suicide Run" is the perfect introduction.

Kathy L. Greenberg of Tampa is a freelance writer.

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