Styron tells of his descent into clinical depression, later
hospitalization, and recovery. Much of this slim (96-page) work
appeared last year in Vanity Fair magazine. In 1984, Styron's 30
years of alcohol and more recent excessive tranquilizer intake
(Halcion) combined to make alcohol poisonous to his system and
deprived him totally of his friendly balm, the alcohol that he says
allowed him to open up his works as a clear mind never could (he
adds that he never wrote while drinking). Shortly thereafter, he
went into depression, which he thinks may or may not have been tied
in with going cold turkey off booze. He puts forth various genetic
hints (his father had "battled the gorgon for much of his
lifetime") and suggests buried childhood events to explain the
origins of his illness. His depression would sweep over him late in
the day, just at the time of the afternoon nap he could no longer
achieve and apparently just before the hour of the first drink that
he could no longer have. The depths of his depression carried him
far beyond alcohol withdrawal and pill poisoning, Styron says. In
general, the tour of the depression he renders is gripping, though
simply as writing it could have done with more intense immediacy
and searing detail. It's best when dramatizing a deepening stage in
the illness, and it comes to a high point when Styron decides to
kill himself and throws his private diary into the garbage. By then
we are convinced that his illness is as he says, "so overwhelming
as to be quite beyond expression." Only various lines from Dante,
he thinks, come near to showing his experience. He admires his wile
Rose for standing by him at his most obliterated, and we get a
sense of uplift when his hospitalization and new drug begin to take
hold. His scathing review of antidepressants seems just. Each
victim of depression is unique, and we feel that Styron has shown
us - in large strokes without getting as razor-edged as Robert
Lowell - as much of his black pit as he can bear to show. (Kirkus
Reviews)
In the summer of 1985 William Styron was overtaken by persistent insomnia and a troubling sense of malaise - the first signs of a deep depression that would engulf his life and leave him on the brink of suicide . Darkness Visible describes his devastating descent into depression, taking us on an unprecedented journey into the realm of madness. It is an intimate portrait of the agony of Styron's ordeal, as well as a probing look at an illness that affects millions but is still widely misunderstood.
Through his remarkable candour and powers of description comes a true understanding of the anguish of a mind desperate unto death . Written in Styron's clear and marvellously compelling prose, Darknes s Visible is a bold and ultimately uplifting exploration of depression 's dark reality.
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