%0 Journal Article
%T William Styron’s Sophie’s Choice: Can “faults” become assets?
%A Mazur, Zygmunt
%J Studia Litteraria Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis
%V 2015
%R 10.4467/20843933ST.15.013.4104
%N Volume 10, Issue 2
%P 153-161
%K Styron, Sophie’s Choice, holocaust fiction, Styron criticism.
%@ 1897-3035
%D 2015
%U https://ejournals.eu/czasopismo/studia-litteraria-uic/artykul/william-styrons-sophies-choice-can-faults-become-assets
%X 
	The article examines critical responses to Styron’s controversial novel Sophie’s Choice, and argues that precisely those aspects of the novel that have been the most severely criticized – the sudden changes in narrative technique, the mixing of different genres, the parallels between Poland and America, the comparisons between a slave plantation and a concentration camp, as well as the use of atypical characters – are exactly what makes the novel powerful. Those “faults” serve a universalizing function. The strength of the novel, and its lasting impact, stem from the fact that it is ultimately a moral book.