Before you go...
Check Out
The Bestselling Books of All Time
See the List

The Suicide Run

Five Tales of the Marine Corps

Five Tales of the Marine Corps

Five Tales of the Marine Corps

By William Styron

By William Styron

By William Styron

By William Styron

By William Styron
Read by Mark Deakins

By William Styron
Read by Mark Deakins

Best Seller
Paperback $15.00

Sep 14, 2010 | ISBN 9780812980240

Ebook $4.99

Oct 06, 2009 | ISBN 9781588369062

Audiobook Download $16.00

Oct 06, 2009 | 330 Minutes

All Formats
+
    The Suicide Run by William Styron
    Paperback
    Sep 14, 2010 | ISBN 9780812980240
    See All Formats (2) +

    Paperback
    –

    • Paperback $15.00

      Sep 14, 2010 | ISBN 9780812980240

    Ebook
    +

    • Ebook $4.99

      Oct 06, 2009 | ISBN 9781588369062

    Audio
    +

    Buy the Audiobook Download:

    About The Suicide Run

    The Suicide Run collects five of William Styron’s meticulously rendered narratives based on his real-life experiences as a U.S. Marine. In “Blankenship,” Styron draws on his stint as a guard at a stateside military prison at the end of World War II. “Marriott, the Marine” and “The Suicide Run”—which Styron composed as part of an intended novel that he set aside to write Sophie’s Choice—depict the surreal experience of being conscripted a second time, after World War II, to serve in the Korean War. “My Father’s House” captures the frustration of a soldier trying to become a civilian again. In “Elobey, Annobón, and Corisco,” a soldier attempts to exorcise the dread of an approaching battle by daydreaming about far-off islands, visited vicariously through his childhood stamp collection.  

        Perhaps the last volume from one of literature’s greatest voices, The Suicide Run brings to life the drama, absurdity, and heroism that forever changed the men who served in the Marine Corps.

    About The Suicide Run

    The Suicide Run collects five of William Styron’s meticulously rendered narratives based on his real-life experiences as a U.S. Marine. In “Blankenship,” Styron draws on his stint as a guard at a stateside military prison at the end of World War II. “Marriott, the Marine” and “The Suicide Run”—which Styron composed as part of an intended novel that he set aside to write Sophie’s Choice—depict the surreal experience of being conscripted a second time, after World War II, to serve in the Korean War. “My Father’s House” captures the frustration of a soldier trying to become a civilian again. In “Elobey, Annobón, and Corisco,” a soldier attempts to exorcise the dread of an approaching battle by daydreaming about far-off islands, visited vicariously through his childhood stamp collection.  

        Perhaps the last volume from one of literature’s greatest voices, The Suicide Run brings to life the drama, absurdity, and heroism that forever changed the men who served in the Marine Corps.

    About The Suicide Run

    Before writing his memoir of madness, Darkness Visible, William Styron was best known for his ambitious works of fiction–including The Confessions of Nat Turner and Sophie’s Choice. Styron also created personal but no less powerful tales based on his real-life experiences as a U.S. Marine. The Suicide Run collects five of these meticulously rendered narratives. One of them–“Elobey, Annobón, and Corisco”–is published here for the first time.

    In “Blankenship,” written in 1953, Styron draws on his stint as a guard at a stateside military prison at the end of World War II. “Marriott, the Marine” and “The Suicide Run”–which Styron composed in the early 1970s as part of an intended novel that he set aside to write Sophie’s Choice–depict the surreal experience of being conscripted a second time, after World War II, to serve in the Korean War. “My Father’s House” captures the isolation and frustration of a soldier trying to become a civilian again. In “Elobey, Annobón, and Corisco,” written late in Styron’s life, a soldier attempts to exorcise the dread of an approaching battle by daydreaming about far-off islands, visited vicariously through his childhood stamp collection.

    Perhaps the last volume from one of literature’s greatest voices, The Suicide Run brings to life the drama, inhumanity, absurdity, and heroism that forever changed the men who served in the Marine Corps.

    Read An Excerpt

    Read An Excerpt

    Read An Excerpt

    Also by William Styron

    My Generation
    Selected Letters of William Styron
    Havanas in Camelot
    Darkness Visible
    A Tidewater Morning
    See all books by William Styron

    Also by William Styron

    My Generation
    Selected Letters of William Styron
    Havanas in Camelot
    Darkness Visible
    A Tidewater Morning
    See all books by William Styron

    Also by William Styron

    My Generation
    Selected Letters of William Styron
    Havanas in Camelot
    Darkness Visible
    A Tidewater Morning
    See all books by William Styron

    About William Styron

    William Styron (1925–2006), a native of the Virginia Tidewater, was a graduate of Duke University and a veteran of the US Marine Corps. His books include The Confessions of Nat Turner, Sophie’s Choice, and Darkness Visible. He was awarded the Pulitzer… More about William Styron

    About William Styron

    William Styron (1925–2006), a native of the Virginia Tidewater, was a graduate of Duke University and a veteran of the US Marine Corps. His books include The Confessions of Nat Turner, Sophie’s Choice, and Darkness Visible. He was awarded the Pulitzer… More about William Styron

    About William Styron

    William Styron (1925–2006), a native of the Virginia Tidewater, was a graduate of Duke University and a veteran of the US Marine Corps. His books include The Confessions of Nat Turner, Sophie’s Choice, and Darkness Visible. He was awarded the Pulitzer… More about William Styron

    Product Details

    Category: Historical Fiction | Literary Fiction | Military Fiction

    Paperback | $15.00
    Published by Random House Trade Paperbacks
    Sep 14, 2010 | 208 Pages | 5-3/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780812980240

    Category: Historical Fiction | Literary Fiction | Military Fiction

    Ebook | $4.99
    Published by Random House
    Oct 06, 2009 | 208 Pages | ISBN 9781588369062

    Category: Historical Fiction | Literary Fiction | Military Fiction | Audiobooks

    Audiobook Download | $16.00
    Published by Random House Audio
    Oct 06, 2009 | 330 Minutes | ISBN 9780739385173

    People Who Read The Suicide Run Also Read

    ‹ ›
    The Joy Luck Club
    The Decameron
    Time Travelers Never Die
    Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories
    The Deportees
    Unusual Suspects
    Bringing Tony Home
    Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and Other Classic Fairy Tales of Charles Per
    God Is Dead
    Misspelled
    The Garden Party and Other Stories
    Shifter
    Something Magic This Way Comes
    I Love Dollars
    Metamorphosis and Other Stories
    Selected Stories
    Tales from Shakespeare
    American Supernatural Tales
    The Turn of the Screw and Other Short Novels
    On the Prowl
    The Pancatantra
    41 Stories
    The Arabian Nights, Volume I
    Spoon River Anthology
    Strange Candy
    The Secrets of a Fire King
    The Secret History of Vampires
    Come Together, Fall Apart
    Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Thief
    The Picture of Dorian Gray and Three Stories
    Under Cover of Darkness
    Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio
    The Celestial Railroad and Other Stories
    Mysteria
    A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
    The Signet Classic Book of Mark Twain's Short Stories
    The Diary of a Madman, the Government Inspector, and Selected Stories
    The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories From the Sketch Book
    Bump in the Night
    The New York Trilogy
    Count Zero
    Red Cavalry and Other Stories
    Master and Man and Other Stories
    The Red Badge of Courage and Other Stories
    The Awakening and Selected Stories of Kate Chopin

    Inspired by Your Browsing History

    Praise

    “Short fiction from a Southern master of the sweeping, ambitiously themed, epic novel.. . . Taken as a whole, these fragments illuminate their author’s obsessions and make the reader wish Styron had completed at least two more novels. Essential reading for the writer’s fans; a revelatory footnote for others.”—Kirkus Reviews


    “Styron’s prose is as assured as ever and his knack for character is masterful.”—Publishers Weekly


    “Styron has always been drawn to moral and emotional complexity, and in these three stories we see him at work skillfully exploring that rich and provocative terrain again.”—Library Journal

    Back to Top

    Visit other sites in the Penguin Random House Network

    Brightly

    Raise kids who love to read
    TASTE img

    TASTE

    An online magazine for today’s home cook

    LitFlash

    The eBooks you want at the lowest prices

    Read it Forward

    Read it first. Pass it on!