Because of the kinds of issues Styron has written about, his short stories and novels easily provoke group discussions of all kinds. The relationship between the individual and historical circumstance, his analysis of western civilization and its involvement with and creation of both Nazism and racial slavery, his treatment of men and women in different historical periods, his emotionally charged use of language to try to capture the effects of the monumental issues that confront him, his peeling away at the facades of memory and recollection, his need to both reveal and re-veil or conceal the depths and often tortuous paths of his subjects, his comments upon the creation of history and fiction and how they are intimately interrelated: All of these topics can lead to stimulating and provocative discussions.

1. Can you trace any development in terms of growth and self-knowledge in Paul Whitehurst from 1935 through...