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1-Page Summary of Darkness Visible

Overall Summary

In 1985, William Styron was in the depths of depression and considered committing suicide. However, he decided to seek treatment instead. He then spent seven weeks at a psychiatric ward and reentered society with renewed self-confidence. Primo Levi committed suicide in 1987 after being criticized for his decision by many people. In response to that criticism, William Styron wrote an op-ed piece for The New York Times about depression based on his own experience with it.

Styron said that suicide is not a sin or selfish act, but the result of an untreated or poorly treated mental illness. He received many responses from people who felt seen for the first time and understood what they were going through. This led to his lecture at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1989 about depression, which he expanded into a book-length memoir called Darkness Visible in 1990.

In October 1985, Styron received the Prix Mondial Cino del Duca award in Paris. He’d stayed at that hotel 35 years earlier and realized he believed he would never return to Paris because he thought of committing suicide. His depression symptoms were mild during the morning but grew more intense as the day wore on and made concentration difficult for him. After receiving his award, Styron backed out of a planned luncheon with his publisher; it was actually an awards ceremony committee member who had invited him to lunch. The committee member felt offended when Styron didn’t show up for their meeting so they rescheduled and met later in the day. When it came time for dinner with his publisher, Styron lost track of time and briefly forgot about a check worth $25,000 dollars that was given to him by someone else before dinner started.

Styron wanted to return to the U.S. right away because he needed medication for his illness. He thinks of Romain Gary, who committed suicide after the suicide of his ex-wife, and also Albert Camus, who died in a car accident while riding with a reckless driver. Camus often wrote about suicide; Styron wonders if Camus was attempting to take his own life when he got into that vehicle.

Author William Styron also talks about the suicide of activist Abbie Hoffman and his family’s attempt to get the coroner to rule it an accident. He mentions how people who are left behind after a suicide often try to ignore what happened, as if it revealed something shameful in their loved one rather than being caused by mental illness.

Styron attributes the onset of his own symptoms to his inability to continue consuming alcohol in order to avoid dealing with difficult feelings. He began experiencing physical ailments, even though doctors told him he was healthy. After trying a range of antidepressants, he decided that life wasn’t worth living and threw away a notebook that symbolized his struggle for survival.

While Styron was having a hard time, he told his wife that he felt suicidal. He then went to a psychiatric hospital for seven weeks and stayed there for two years. During this time, Styron learned about the suicide of Primo Levi and wrote an editorial in The New York Times. Styron says multiple times that depression is indescribable but still tries to describe it anyway. He realizes that depression is incurable, but thinks the next time will be easier because he knows how to fight it better.

Chapter 1

William Styron opens his book by remembering a turning point in his life. He notes that this moment happened when he was 35 years old and staying at a hotel in Paris, France. At the time, he had just published one novel and was barely known as an author. However, after spending a few days there, he realized that if he didn’t change some things about himself (such as getting help for his depression), then it could be the end of him.