Darkness Visible

Darkness Visible, a phrase from Milton's poem Paradise Lost, may refer to:

Television episodes

Darkness Visible (novel)

Darkness Visible is a 1979 novel by British author William Golding. The book won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. The title comes from Paradise Lost, from the line, "No light, but rather darkness visible".

The novel narrates a struggle between good and evil, using naïveté, sexuality and spirituality throughout. It marked Golding's re-emergence as a novelist, eight years after the publication of his previous book, the collection The Scorpion God.

A dark and complex novel, it centres on Matty - introduced in chapter one as a naked child emerging horribly disfigured from a bomb explosion during the London Blitz in World War II. He becomes a ward of the state and is put into a Catholic boarding school, where he is shunned by the other children and sexually abused by one of his teachers, Mr. Pedigree. When he grows up, however, his selfless kindness and mysterious persona attract a devoted following of people who believe him to be a saint.

The second part of the book is centered on two twins, Toni and Sophy, from the point of view of Sophy. Their story starts from their childhood, when they are around 10 years old, and follows their growth as they become young adults.

Darkness Visible (memoir)

Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness is U.S. writer William Styron's memoir about his descent into depression, and the triumph of recovery.

First published in December 1989 in Vanity Fair, the book grew out of a lecture that Styron originally delivered at a symposium on affective disorders at the Department of Psychiatry of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

The title of the work comes from John Milton's description of Hell in Paradise Lost:

Styron begins his story in October 1985 when he flies to Paris to receive the prestigious Prix mondial Cino Del Duca. During this trip, the writer's mental state begins to deteriorate rapidly. Using a mix of anecdotes, speculation, and reportage, Styron reflects on the causes and effects of depression, drawing links between his own illness and that of other writers such as Randall Jarrell, Albert Camus, Romain Gary, and Primo Levi, as well as U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and activist Abbie Hoffman.

Styron connects the onset of his depression with his sudden termination of his lifelong alcohol use, and argues that his condition was likely exacerbated by careless prescription of the drug Halcion. His depression culminated in a bout of intense suicidal ideation (though he never made an actual suicide attempt), which led to hospitalization and recovery.