January 20, 2007
"An Evening Without" Video
The ACLU of Massachusetts has made available a video of "An Evening Without," which took place on September 19, 2006. View it online at www.aclum.org.
December 30, 2006
A Tribute to William Styron
On Wednesday, December 13, a gray, rainy evening, writers and readers gathered at the McKim Building of the Boston Public Library to pay tribute to novelist William Styron (June 11, 1925 - November 1, 2006). The mood in the library's majestic Abbey Room was subdued but celebratory, with many authors who had not seen each other in some time embracing. The tribute was co-sponsored by PEN New England and the BPL.
Bernard Margolis, President of the BPL, welcomed the assembled to the warmth and grandeur of the room, alluding to the richly colored murals depicting "The Quest of the Holy Grail." Michael Lowenthal, member of the PEN/NE Executive Committee—who had conceived of the event within days of Styron's passing and produced the evening with the help of fellow novelist and PEN member Jennifer Haigh—made welcoming remarks, followed by a string of readings and remembrances. These were not overly solemn.
Robert Brustein—author, critic, educator, and director—recalled Styron on Martha's Vineyard, including the author's culinary accomplishments (ham laced with bourbon was a specialty of the house), his aversion to submerging his body in the ocean, and immutable resistance to playing tennis, though a court was next door to his home. Jennifer Haigh described her own domestic bookstore of Styron's works; the copies of Lay Down in Darkness she keeps at home to give to friends, "especially those in trouble," and the venerable, marked-up copy that stays near her writing desk. She ended her remarks by reading a passage from the book. Author and educator Kenneth Greenberg, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Suffolk University and editor of Nat Turner: A Slave Rebellion in History and Memory (the actual confessions predating Styron's novel), described Styron's singular literary achievements. Greenberg read from Styron's eulogy of his longtime friend, writer James Baldwin—words intended as testimony to Baldwin that remain also as testimony to Styron, including to his commitment to bridging racial divides.
White-haired Norman Mailer, stooped and walking with two canes—winner of two Pulitzer Prizes (The Armies of the Night, The Executioner's Song) and former President of PEN America—showed no sign of age in his comments, which included memories of the prickly rivalry between him and Styron, their falling-out ("I lost his company for 24-years," said Mailer) and the eventual, careful, courtly way they rescued a fallen friendship through letters. Journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Geraldine Brooks praised the power of Sophie's Choice, the way it spoke to her so directly on the other side of the world, as a cub reporter in Australia, inspiring and dedicating her to the truth of literature. A third Pulitzer winner, chief book critic of the Boston Globe, Gail Caldwell, enriched the evening with her vivid remembrance of Darkness Visible, her conversation about depression with Styron, and the muscular psychic courage he employed to battle his way out.
Styron's red-haired daughter, Susanna Styron, a filmmaker, closed the evening with a level-headed testimony to her father's high standards for the research necessary to his work, and how he extended his standards to her own work. He created "new perspectives" on the South, the family, mental illness, and the Holocaust, said Susanna, describing her father's long mission: working towards the truth.
Rose Styron sat composed and occasionally smiling—and laughing out loud during Norman Mailer's account of a competitive croquet game between him and Styron—taking in the evening's tributes to her late husband and to herself. In addition to her own work as a writer, Mrs. Styron is a human rights activist, whose activities have included the chairmanship of PEN America's Freedom-to-Write Committee. Rose Styron shared life with William Styron for more than 53 years, staunch aide and ally in pursuit of truth.
Works by William Styron:
Lie Down in Darkness (1951)
The Long March (1952, serial; 1956, book)
Set This House on Fire (1960)
The Confessions of Nat Turner (1967)
In the Clap Shack (1973)
Sophie's Choice (1979)
The Quiet Dust, and Other Writings (1982, expanded 1993)
Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness (1990)
A Tidewater Morning: Three Tales from Youth (1993)
(Report by Lynda Morgenroth)
September 19, 2006
Constitution Day Event September 19
Tuesday, September 19th, 2006
6:00 - 8:00 PM
Boston Public Library
Rabb Lecture Hall
700 Boylston Street
Copley Square
Boston, MA
PEN New England, ACLU of Massachusetts and the Boston Public Library are marking Constitution Day with an event that will feature leading writers and actors reading from the works of writers, scholars and others whose voices have been, at one time or another, silenced, or they have been excluded from the country.
The program will proceed from the post-World War I Red Scare to the present, including writers who are excluded today based on their ideology. Although the First Amendment enshrines the free exchange of ideas, the United States has a long history of closing its doors to people whose ideas and associations it does not like. Please join us for this very important and timely event.
For more details, visit the Events Calendar.
September 15, 2005
Readings at the A.R.T.
PEN New England's annual Readings at the A.R.T. will take place on Monday October 24. Tickets and sponsorships are on sale now. For full details, click here.
August 12, 2005
Photos from Writing Baseball
More than 400 people attended PEN New England's "Writing Baseball: Great Writers on the Greatest Game" on June 6. Another unforgettable evening at Fenway Park!
From left, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Roger Angell, Stephen King, John Updike, and Michael Lewis.
Perri Klass, PEN New England Chair, Sue Miller, and John Updike.
From left, Stephen King, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Roger Angell, John Updike, and Michael Lewis.