Melancholia: the Western malady

by Bell, Matthew

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Title Statements

Full title :Melancholia : the Western malady / Matthew Bell.

Summary

Melancholia is a commonly experienced feeling, and one with a long and fascinating medical history that can be charted back to antiquity. Avoiding the simplistic binary opposition of constructivism and hard realism, this book argues that melancholia was a culture-bound syndrome which thrived in the West because of the structure of Western medicine since the Ancient Greeks, and because of the West's fascination with self-consciousness. Whilst melancholia cannot be equated with modern depression, Matthew Bell argues that concepts from recent depression research can shed light on melancholia. Within a broad historical panorama, Bell focuses on ancient medical writing, especially the little-known but pivotal Rufus of Ephesus, and on the medicine and culture of early modern Europe. Separate chapters are dedicated to issues of gender and cultural difference, and the final chapter offers a survey of melancholia in the arts, explaining the prominence of melancholia - especially in literature.

Edition Statements

Publication Date:2014.

Publication Statements

Publisher(s):Cambridge University Press
Place of Publication:Cambridge
Language:eng
Publication Date:2014.

The Physical Object

Description:1 online resource (256 pages)

Edition Identifiers

ISBN:9781316129203, 1316129209, 9781107707122, 1107707129, 9781316131381, 1316131386, 9781107641792, 1107641799
oclc:ocn889948031
LC Classification:BF39.4
Dewey Decimal:150

Cover; Half-title apge; Title page; Copyright page; Dedication; Contents; Preface; Acknowledgements; Note on citation, quotation, translation, and spelling; Introduction; 1 Naming a disease ; 2 What's wrong with me? ; 3 Melancholy men, depressed women? ; 4 The Western malady ; 5 The telescope of truth ; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.