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Carregando... Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness (Modern Library) (original: 1990; edição: 2007)de William Styron
Informações da ObraDarkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness de William Styron (1990)
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Registre-se no LibraryThing tpara descobrir se gostará deste livro. Ainda não há conversas na Discussão sobre este livro. Second book this year about depression - this was certainly the better one. I’d never read anything by Styron before. What you’ll find in this book is as quintessential of a nonfiction, essay style as you’ll find anywhere; this seems like the kind of book English professors would give their students as an example of exquisite prose, if it weren’t for the subject matter. That might sound like a knock, but it’s not - Styron was probably (I’m no English professor after all) instrumental in inventing the form, seeing his role in the seething cauldron of American letters in the mid-20th century. I guess it’s hard to write a book on depression, at least when it’s set as the headline topic. Styron explicitly lays out that the disease is highly idiopathic, and that his experience should not be taken as typical, despite the many traits it had it common with medical descriptions of depression. He also highlights the struggle artists have always had in conveying what their depression feels like, how words fail at getting to the heart of the sensation. However what we have here is another attempt, and I can’t say I found it entirely successful. To confront melancholy in the modern age is to be institutionalized to a certain degree - we are plied with drugs, ads for online therapy, self-help books of every stripe. All of this has of course, gotten worse since this book was written. These kinds of treatments are anathema to the language of art and poetry, and though Styron gives it his best shot, this book is at the end of the day, a very well written testimony of treatment, and does little for me to illuminate the nature of the depressive and depression itself. I found that I think I have a different view of depression than Styron puts forth here, so concerned as he is with depression as a diagnosis - in my experience as a fellow traveler and friend and family of many more, depression can be more viewed as a facet of personality that some people are susceptible to. Styron himself points out that creative types are more prone to depression, it may just be that depressive types are more prone to creativity. The same sensitivity that pushes one to make art; or try to make the world better, or question why life is worth living, this is the same sensitivity that when turned against itself can take you far down dark paths. My favorite part of this book is the wide reading that Styron puts on display and his perceptive observations on depression in literature. Many of the works that I count among my favorites are engaged with the same questions the depressive asks themselves, and many are mentioned in this book. In 2023, I find this book feels a bit outdated. However, I have no doubt that at the time of publishing, Darkness Visible was probably ground breaking. As someone who studies trauma and psychology in literature, I think this book is crucial and certainly an important read for the academics. I really enjoy the topics that Styron brings up. I’ve often considered depression a disease that inflicts an inability for people to imagine the future. Styron himself fell victim to a depression which crippled him, a writer, of his imagination to the point that he was only able to contemplate suicide. The amazing thing about this book is that he’s able to take that loss and turn it into an impactful memoir that revisits the ins and outs of his affliction so well. The anecdotes and asides do a great job at translating in layman terms what he went through. The allegories wonderfully describe the personal, societal, and physical tolls—such as calling the body aches a warmth that can’t be subdued via a breeze. He also presents information well; including the arguments concerning psychiatric and pharmaceutical solutions to depression—which still hold up even though the book was written in 1990. It’s brief, has a wonderful conversational tone, and ends with a great degree of cautious optimism. Highly recommended. I've been through this book three times over a 15 year span, divided by five year intervals. As best as I can remember, I was either going into or coming out of a deep depression. I don't think I could have read it while I was in the middle of it. Actually, I can't read anything in the midst of such a madness. And, madness, although I hate the term, is exactly what it is for me. All I know is that I loved it. Loved him for sharing this deeply, personal thing. Loved the feeling that I wasn't alone. Pertence à série publicadaGallimard, Folio (2525) Tem um comentário sobre o textoTem um guia de estudo para estudantesDistinctionsNotable Lists
Biography & Autobiography.
Psychology.
Nonfiction.
A work of great personal courage and a literary tour de force, this bestseller is Styron's true account of his descent into a crippling and almost suicidal depression. Styron is perhaps the first writer to convey the full terror of depression's psychic landscape, as well as the illuminating path to recovery. Não foram encontradas descrições de bibliotecas. |
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Google Books — Carregando... GênerosClassificação decimal de Dewey (CDD)616.85270092Technology Medicine and health Diseases Diseases of nervous system and mental disorders Miscellaneous Neuroses DepressionClassificação da Biblioteca do Congresso dos E.U.A. (LCC)AvaliaçãoMédia:
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The book seems useful for those in the midst of the "madness", offering proof that the veil will eventually lift, and for those who want to understand it. For those who have already passed through and emerged, it must be similar to how I imagine a recovering alcoholic might feel about reading an account of someone else's drinking problem: a personal sense of understanding, and an uncomfortable dread of slipping back there. ( )