opinions & ViewsnMoujik ‘n’ Pulp SandwichnWilliam Styron: Sophie’s Choice;nRandom House; New York.nby Lev NavrozovnMr . William Styron was born in Virginia,nserved in the Marine Corps, studiednat Duke University. The narrator ofnSophie’s Choice was born in Virginia,nserved in the Marine Corps, studied atnDuke University. He is also a novelist.nHe is introduced to us by his schoolnnickname “Stingo.” It is safe, therefore,nto assume that Mr. Styron and Stingonare two different persons. However, Mr.nStyron may be a whimsical ironist whonhas created a parody on the novel, andncalled this parody Sophie’s Choice, allegedlynwritten by a certain Stingo. Fornit begins to loom, in even an innocentnperception, from its very first paragraphnthat the book is a parody. At the age ofn22 Stingo found that:n”… the creative heat which at eighteennhad nearly consumed me with its gorgeous,nrelentless flame had flickerednout to a dim pilot light registering littlenmore than a tolcen glow in mynbreast, or wherever my hungriest aspirationsnonce resided.”nThis is how some humorless schoolchildrennall over the world, or somenadult workers in the literary courses ofnthe Likhachov Automobile Plant, Moscow,nwrite their novels: they believenthat a writer expresses himself in clichesnborrowed “from the best” in literature.nThey have not yet chosen an old or anmodern writer to imitate: this scourgenof literary mediocrity will come later.nFor the time being they still imitatenliterature. Wishing to say that their passionnfor writing is gone, they feel dutynbound to juxtapose a “gorgeous relentlessnflame” against a “dim pilot light.”nThe high school, or creative writingnLev Navrozov is a frequent contributornto the Chronicles.n8nChronicles of CuUurencourse, tyro does not know what banalitynis. Literature to him is the ability tonform cliches that contrast with everydaynlife or speech.nIt is sufficient to open the book anywherento see that Stingo has this abilitynto an uncanny degree; if a girl’s eyesnimplore Stingo to believe her, they implorenhim “with the despairing plea ofnan innocent prisoner protesting her virtiu-bifoii-niMf 1ir.” . Rii^si.in iioviiisin”h is liler.iliiri.-ot ihe hisihesi order.”nA triumph on every level.nto be acclaimed for this momentousncritical insight.nAnother interpretation of Stingo’snnovel is possible. In the 19th century,nart in Europe bifurcated; next to thenopera, drama, novel, there began tonflourish cheap (both artistically and financially)nimitations—operetta, melodrama,nfarce, vaudeville, the dime novel.nA copy of a novel in its first printingnwas expensive (at least in Russia), son— (.’/j/tv/i;f< Sun I’/iiicsn— Xcu’siluyn”It belongs on iliiit small shelt ri-.si-re(l lor American m.isu-rpicces.”n— WushitifilDH I’d.sl Ihiok W’ltrUn”It has a look of pi-rmaiu-nce alH)iii it.n”llerilv ma.sli-rtiiln•Magiiificeiilnfriend of mine once compiled a glossarynof the most hackneyed phrases in thenworld. Sophie’s Choice would have beenna treasure trove for him. When Stingonwrote (Stingo explains), his charactersn”seemed to acquire life of their own.”nWishing to explain how deeply a girlnloved music, he says that she lovednmusic as much as one loves food. Andnhe adds a cluster of literary elegancies:nthe “availability of music alone, she said,nfilled her insides with a sense of delectation,nas one feels just before what onenknows will be a sumptuous meal.”nAn3rway, I will refer to the author ofnSophie’s Choice as Stingo. It makes menfeel safer. If Stingo and Sophie’s Choicenare parodies, Mr. Styron and his publishersnshould be congratulated on theirnindomitable sense of humor, and I wishnnn— Newsweekn— Cbiciif^rj I’rihmic Book- Worldn— W’oniin’s Wear Dailynit was sufficient for the writer to sellntwo thousand copies to live quite well.nAn installment of a penny dreadful, onnthe other hand, cost 1/100 of the price,nand so no financial success was possiblenwithout mass sales.nIn the United States (and possiblyneverywhere) today the price of a copynof any newly published novel has beennreduced to the same figure, no matternwhether the author is the greatest geniusnmankind ever produced or the lowestnhack. By this, I do not mean that goodnprose does not appear in the West today.nBut it appears contrary to the currentnpublishing economics, just as in post-n1918 Russia it appears contrary to thentotalitarian regime.nIf Stingo’s Sophie’s Choice is a pulpnnovel, and this genre is now the acceptedn