Darkness Visible
A Memoir of Madness

A description of the author's devastating descent into depression, this book is an intimate portrait of the agony of Styron's ordeal. It looks at an illness that affects millions but is still widely misunderstood. Styron reveals the anguish of a mind desperate unto death.

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 takes 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 desperate mind. Darkness Visible is a bold and an ultimately uplifting exploration of depression's dark reality.