A User's Guide to Melancholy

by Mary Ann Lund

A User's Guide to Melancholy takes Robert Burton's encyclopaedic masterpiece The Anatomy of Melancholy (first published in 1621) as a guide to one of the most perplexing, elusive, attractive, and afflicting diseases of the Renaissance. Burton's Anatomy is perhaps the largest, strangest, and most unwieldy self-help book ever written. Engaging with the rich cultural and literary framework of melancholy, this book traces its causes, symptoms, and cures through Burton's writing. Each chapter starts with a case study of melancholy - from the man who was afraid to urinate in case he drowned his town to the girl who purged a live eel - as a way into exploring the many facets of this mental affliction. A User's Guide to Melancholy presents in an accessible and illustrated format the colourful variety of Renaissance melancholy, and contributes to contemporary discussions about wellbeing by revealing the earlier history of mental health conditions.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Psychology

269 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 25, 2021

Reviews

[Thatcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

What kind of sick bastard would read a book with this title at end of a year he lost his beloved wife then suffered cancer surgery and radiation? Me. The title grabbed me for just that reason, to dwell on and examine what I was going through. Then I found the book was actually a lighthearted and scholarly study of Burton’s 17th century work ‘The Anatomy of Melancholy.’ That made it all the more intriguing for me.

I was not disappointed. I was entertained and enlightened as I sloughed through some 17th century mental miseries and the underlying purported mechanisms, causes and solutions.

We might want to laugh at the simplistic childishness of some of the thinking of those times but might better consider how childish our best thinking about mental heath will look in a century or two.

Mary Ann Lund gives respectable voice to the past. We should listen.

[Olja · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully written analysis of Burton's "The Anatomy of Melancholy".

...and myself, being "a lifelong devotee of melancholy, or perhaps a slave to it" - find this book massively entertaining.

So I will close with couple of (ending) verses from Burton's poem:

"All my joys to this are folly,
Naught so sweet as melancholy.

All my griefs to this are jolly,
Naught so harsh as melancholy.

All my griefs to this are jolly,
Naught so fierce as melancholy.

All my joys to this are folly,
None so divine as melancholy.

All my griefs to this are jolly,
Naught so damn'd as melancholy."

Sweet - harsh - fierce - divine - damned !

That's for me THE HOLY MELANCHOLY!

[Enry Ravaglini · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a fine book, but I bounced off of it because it was wholly different from what I thought it would be. This is a good description of the historical attitudes toward the concept of melancholy. I was hoping for a more critical text regarding Robert Burton's book. In this case, it is wholly me, not the book.

[Kristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating book that strikes the perfect balance between quoting source material, and providing context and background. I had trouble putting it down. It's obvious that a lot of time and research went into the writing of this book.

[Katie Horan · Rating 5 out of 5]

an absolutely amazing read. big fan.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent introduction to Robert Burton's classic

I suppose that the 400th anniversary of the first publication of Robert Burton's tour de force 'The anatomy of melancholy' is one of the reasons why this book has seen the light of day this year. I'm certainly very glad that it did, because it really is an excellent introduction for anyone who wants to have a taste of Burton's weird and wonderful collection of fact, fiction and fun about the dreaded affliction that is melancholy.

For want of better words, I'm going to repeat something Philip Pullman wrote about this book: "Burton is inexhaustible and irreplaceable, of course, but this delightfully written and brilliantly informative guide is the best introduction to this great book I have ever seen." Hear, hear! I have been searching for other books about Burton's life and his 'Anatomy', but there are surprisingly few publications available and most of them are pretty old too.

I would like to add that this book is beautifully edited too: nice hardback cover, printed on thick glossy paper, with several B&W illustrations.

While I'm waiting for the new Penguin Classics edition of Burton's masterpiece to be released next month, I shall certainly keep dipping into this delightful introduction.
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