Sólo alguien a quien no asustan las críticas o las controversias (ya había tocado en novelas anteriores temas muy complejos) puede ser capaz de un ensayo tan a tumba abierta como Darkness Visible.
Tras las críticas negativas que se hicieron tras el suicidio de escritores como Primo Levi, William Styron habla de sus experiencias de depresión y de las de otras personas cercanas a las que aparentemente la vida les sonreía y el éxito acompañaba sus publicaciones pero que tuvieron en ocasiones un final trágico sin poder recibir ayuda de sus amigos o familiares.
Intenta así acabar con el estigma de esta enfermedad explicando el indescriptible sufrimiento que la acompaña y que hace tan difícil la comunicación con los médicos o la familia del enfermo. Piensa que quizá sea más fácil así la prevención del suicidio.
Se publicó inicialmente como un artículo que apareció en Vanity Fair y más tarde apareció en forma de un apasionante ensayo publicado por Random House en 1992.
Darkness Visible
Styron's influence deepened and his readership expanded with the publication of Darkness Visible in 1990. This memoir, which began as a magazine article, chronicles the author's descent into depression and his near-fatal night of "despair beyond despair". was the first, and possibly the most vivid and insightful, first-hand account of a major depressive episode to date. The memoir greatly increased knowledge and decreased stigmatization of major depressive disorders and suicide. It increased understanding of the phenomenology of the disease among sufferers, their loved ones, and the general public as well. Earlier, in December 1989, Styron had written an op-ed for the New York Times responding to the disappointment and mystification among scholars about the apparent suicide of Primo Levi, the remarkable Italian writer. Styron noted in an article for Vanity Fair "the pain of severe depression is quite unimaginable to those who have not suffered it, and it kills in many instances because its anguish can no longer be borne. The prevention of many suicides will continue to be hindered until there is a general awareness of the nature of this pain. Through the healing process of time—and through medical intervention or hospitalization in many cases—most people survive depression, which may be its only blessing; but to the tragic legion who are compelled to destroy themselves there should be no more reproof attached than to the victims of terminal cancer."
Later work and acclaim
Styron was awarded the Prix mondial Cino Del Duca in 1985.
His short story "Shadrach" was filmed in 1998, under the same title. It was co-directed by his daughter Susanna.
Other works published during his lifetime include the play In the Clap Shack (1973), and a collection of his nonfiction, This Quiet Dust (1982).
French President François Mitterrand invited Styron to his first Presidential inauguration, and later made him a Commander of the Legion of Honor.[12] In 1993, Styron was awarded the National Medal of Arts.[13]
In 2002 an opera by Nicholas Maw based on Sophie's Choice premièred at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London.
