William Styron on the Literary Appreciations of Farmers’ Daughters, 1972
“These rich farm bastards . . . support fat institutions of learning like the University of Iowa, which should be able to pay a decent fee for writers to come and titillate the same farmers’ daughters . . .”
“Dear Frederick:
“The state of Iowa is filled with rich farmers who make pots of money selling hogs in places like Dubuque and Sioux City, which we poor suckers in turn remunerate by buying bacon at $1.19 a pound. These rich farm bastards in turn support fat institutions of learning like the University of Iowa, which should be able to pay a decent fee for writers to come and titillate the same farmers’ daughters with their (Thomas Wolfe’s phrase) creamy thighs . . .”
Read the entire letter, which was published in the November 2012 issue of the magazine, here.
