#darkness visible

Passage from Paradise Lost.

Inspired by the latest post in this series of mine (timeisoutofjoint.tumblr.com/tagged/BSons/chrono) based on songs. I'm still hoping that someone who can actually edit might step in for some of them lol.

Since the publication of Darkness Visible in October 1990 -- in which William Styron described his own battle with depression and suicidal impulses -- its author had become “the guru of depression;” he listened to and counseled others who shared his illness and tried to help them stave off suicide the way he had (his widow, Rose Styron, said that people would call the house at all hours when they felt suicidal, and Mr. Styron would talk with them). Styron knew he was a role model, and in a 1999 NPR interview, he declared, “I’m in very good shape, if I may be so bold as to say that. It’s as if I had purged myself of this pack of demons.”

Then in 2000, the depression took hold again. “When he crashed again the worst thing for him was that he felt guilty for having assured everyone at the end of Darkness Visible that life would be good forever,” Rose said. “He felt terrible that he had misled people. He was so sad.”

On 5 June 2000, the 74-year-old Styron composed a suicide note, directly addressing the readers who had found comfort and courage in his writing, “I hope that readers of Darkness Visible — past, present and future — will not be discouraged by the manner of my dying,” the note began. It ended with encouragement: “Everyone must keep up the struggle, for it is always likely that you will win the battle and nearly a certainty you will win the war. To all of you, sufferers and nonsufferers alike, I send my abiding love.”

"In the absence of hope, we must struggle to survive—by the skin of our teeth."