Melancholy Experience in Literature of the Long Eighteenth Century: Before Depression, 1660-1800 [Hardcover]

Arising?from a research project on depression in the eighteenth century, this book discusses the experience of depressive states both in terms of existing modes of thought and expression, and of attempts to describe and live with suffering. It also asks what present-day society can learn about depression from the eighteenth-century experience.Acknowledgements Author Biographies Introduction: Depression Before Depression; A.Ingram ?& S.Sim Fashionable Melancholy; C.Lawlor Philosophical Melancholy; R.Terry 'Strange contrarys': Figures of Melancholy in Eighteenth-Century Poetry; J.Baker Despair, Melancholy and the Novel; S.Sim Melancholy, Medicine, Mad Moon and Marriage: Autobiographical Expressions of Depression; L.Wetherall-Dickson Deciphering Difference: A Study in Medical Literacy; A.Ingram Bibliography Index

'The studies that make up Melancholy Experience show how integral and dynamic medical and literary writing can be when read together. Judiciously chosen texts from a range of genres, by major figures and anonymous authors, demonstrate the wealth of perspectives offered by the history of melancholy on such topics as sex, religion, and creativity, as well as the condition itself. The book maintains a sense of conviction that the records left by sufferers and those who cared for them in the long eighteenth century are valuable for those who suffer now and those who wish to help. It is a fine example of such cross-era juxtaposition done conscientiously and constructively. Perhaps the strongest and most unique feature of this work is the humaneness of its scholarship, which causes the reader to share the deep interest and compassion the authors evidently feel for their subjects.'

- Tristanne Connolly, Assistant Professorof English, St. Jerome's University, University of Waterloo, Canada

'Offering excellent insight into what the eighteenth century can teach us in terms of treatment of depressive states, it will be of glóR