Darkness Visible (memoir)
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Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness is U.S. writer William Styron's memoir about his descent into depression and attempted suicide, and the triumph of recovery.
First published in 1989 in Vanity Fair, the title of the work comes from John Milton's description of Hell in Paradise Lost:
- No light; but rather darkness visible
- Served only to discover sights of woe,
- Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace
- And rest can never dwell, hope never comes
- That comes to all, but torture without end
- Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed
- With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed.
Styron begins his story in October 1985 when he flies to Paris to receive the prestigious Prix mondial Cino Del Duca. During this trip the writer's mental state begins to deteriorate rapidly. Using a mix of anecdotes, speculation, and reportage, Styron reflects on the causes and effects of depression, drawing links between his own illness and that of other writers such as Randall Jarrell, Albert Camus, Romain Gary, and Primo Levi, as well as U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and activist Abbie Hoffman.
