The critics received Lie Down in Darkness (1951) as an auspicious first novel, perhaps the best to appear since World War II. If reminiscent of Faulkner, its style was distinctly the author's own; its psychological insights, accurate; and its moral vision, mature. It was, in fact, an astonishingly good novel for an author only twenty-six at the time of its publication. William Styron was immediately placed in the top rank of writers of his generation; he was awarded the Prix de Rome; and his subsequent work was awaited anxiously by critics and readers alike. The wait was a long one. Between 1951 and the appearance of his second novel, Set This House on Fire, in 1960, Styron's only published fiction was a novella, The Long March (1956), and an excerpted episode from his work in progress. When vSet This House on Fire finally appeared, it was not well received, primarily because the story seemed to sprawl out of control, with wildly allegorical episodes obviously satirical in intent.
