Melancholia: The Western Malady PDF
Preview Melancholia: The Western Malady
Melancholia Melancholia is a commonly experienced feeling, and one with a long andfascinatingmedicalhistorywhichcanbechartedbacktoantiquity. Avoiding the simplistic binary opposition of constructivism and hard realism, this book argues that melancholia was a culture-bound syn- drome which thrived in the West because of the structure of Western medicinesincetheAncientGreeks,andbecauseoftheWest’sfascina- tionwithself-consciousness.Whilemelancholiacannotbeequatedwith modern depression, Matthew Bell argues that concepts from recent depression research can shed light on melancholia. Within a broad historicalpanorama,Bellfocusesonancientmedicalwriting,especially thelittle-knownbutpivotalRufusofEphesus,andonthemedicineand cultureofearlymodernEurope.Separatechaptersarededicatedtoissues of gender and cultural difference, and the final chapter offers a survey of melancholia in the arts, explaining the prominence of melancholia – especiallyinliterature. Matthew Bell is Professor of German and Comparative Literature at King’s College London. His main areas of research are eighteenth- century literature and thought and the history of the human sciences, andheistheauthorofTheGermanTraditionofPsychologyinLiterature andThought,1700–1840(CambridgeUniversityPress,2005). Melancholia: The Western Malady Matthew Bell UniversityPrintingHouse,CambridgeCB28BS,UnitedKingdom CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge. ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof education,learningandresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence. www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107069961 ©MatthewBell2014 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2014 PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyClays,StIvesplc AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary ISBN978-1-107-06996-1Hardback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof URLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication, anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain, accurateorappropriate. To my mother and father, whose endless generosity and kindness have made everything possible, this small token of my love and thanks. Contents Preface pageix Acknowledgements xv Noteoncitation,quotation,translation,andspelling xvii Introduction 1 1 Namingadisease 33 2 What’swrongwithme? 56 3 Melancholymen,depressedwomen? 76 4 TheWesternmalady 98 5 Thetelescopeoftruth 152 Conclusion 183 Bibliography 193 Index 207 vii
The list of books you might like
