The Suicide Run collects together a number of short stories from the late William Styron, probably most famous for the novel Sophie’s Choice. They are all based on Styron’s experiences in the Marine Corps during and after the Second World War, and although the covers front and back may be suggestive of the bombs and bullets of combat, the recurring theme of these tales is actually the effect of war on those who do not see real action, for while they may share some of the risks of combat simply by being in a uniform, the psychology of war is very different indeed.

‘Blankenship’ is based on Styron’s experience as a prison guard during the latter stages of the war, guarding not the enemy but men from his own service, on a foggy island prison. Styron evokes the freezing conditions of the prison island, and the stultifying boredom of the duty, as well as the peverse reality of guarding brawlers and deserters while his countrymen fight and die half a world away – not that the narrator is hungry to see action (none of the narrators of these tales are gung-ho glory-hounds). The boredom and frustration are relieved by the escape of a group of prisoners from the island, and Blankenship has a chance to demonstrate his calm efficiency, but  one of the convicts pushes him beyond his limits, and he shows the frustration that lies beneath.

‘Marriot, the Marine’ and the tale of the title, ‘The Suicide Run’, are set in 1951. Styron’s narrator, a young writer with a novel about to be published, feels much more autiobiographical here. After demobbing from the Marines at the end of WW2, like many men, he signed on for the Marine  Corps Reserve, little expecting to be called back to the colours six years later with war raging in the Korean Peninsula. Despite his basic competence as the leader of a mortar platoon, he feels himself to be at odds with the Corps, the war and the ethos of the professional officers, stuck out in a training camp in the swamps of the South.  The only officer he can admire is Marriot, who he can relate to as the Corps’ equivalent of a Renaissance man, a lover of art and literature. The Suicide Run of the second story is the frantic journey from the camp to New York with a fellow officer to visit girlfriends in New York, undertaken at such breakneck speed in a beat up old Citroen that it’s a wonder they survive – but the looming prospect of action in Korea warps their judgment. With the two stories feeling like two chapters of the same novel, you wish that there was more to read.

‘My Father’s House’ was a chapter from an unfinished novel, and in this the young Styron is living with his father following the end of his service in the Pacific theatre and the end of the war. The Pacific saw the Marines face some battles that are bywords for bloody slaughter – Iwo Jima and Okinawa among them – but our narrator missed them all, though it’s not down to cowardice, just about blind administrative chance. While struggling to co-exist with his stepmother, and enjoying the solid presence of his father, the narrator gives neither of them any inkling of the effects the war has had on him. He admits his fear, though cannot embrace it, and shares the guilt common to so many survivors of conflict. It’s wonderfully written and richly evocative, and you will wish that the whole novel has been finished and seen the light of day.

The final story, ‘Elobey, Annobon, and Corisco’, is a vignette of our narrator, in theatre in the Pacific, imagining himself away from the risk and the military beaurocracy and the fear by remembering the exotic locations pictured in his stamp collection. Never before published, it’s a poignant end to this wonderful collection of stories, which achieve an impressive thematic unity, the voice of Styron the Marine, Styron the narrator, drawing together beautifully written tales that highlight both the insanity and the inanity of the military life. Highly recommended.

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