Robert Burton and the Transformative Powers of Melancholy

Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Science, Other Sciences, Philosophy & Social Aspects, Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism
Cover of the book Robert Burton and the Transformative Powers of Melancholy by Stephanie Shirilan, Taylor and Francis
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Stephanie Shirilan ISBN: 9781317062257
Publisher: Taylor and Francis Publication: March 3, 2016
Imprint: Routledge Language: English
Author: Stephanie Shirilan
ISBN: 9781317062257
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Publication: March 3, 2016
Imprint: Routledge
Language: English

Few English books are as widely known, underread, and underappreciated as Robert Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy. Stephanie Shirilan laments that modern scholars often treat the Anatomy as an unmediated repository of early modern views on melancholy, overlooking the fact that Burton is writing a cento - an ancient form of satire that quotes and misquotes authoritative texts in often subversive ways - and that his express intent in so doing is to offer his readers literary therapy for melancholy. This book explores the ways in which the Anatomy dispenses both direct physic and more systemic medicine by encouraging readers to think of melancholy as a privileged mental and spiritual acuity that requires cultivation and management rather than cure. Refuting the prevailing historiography of anxious early modern embodiment that cites Burton as a key witness, Shirilan submits that the Anatomy rejects contemporary Neostoic and Puritan approaches to melancholy. She reads Burton’s erraticism, opacity, and theatricality as modes of resistance against demands for constancy, transparency, and plainness in the popular literature of spiritual and moral hygiene of his day. She shows how Burton draws on rhetorical, theological, and philosophical traditions that privilege the transformative powers of the imagination in order to celebrate melancholic impressionability for its capacity to inspire and engender empathy, charity, and faith.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Few English books are as widely known, underread, and underappreciated as Robert Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy. Stephanie Shirilan laments that modern scholars often treat the Anatomy as an unmediated repository of early modern views on melancholy, overlooking the fact that Burton is writing a cento - an ancient form of satire that quotes and misquotes authoritative texts in often subversive ways - and that his express intent in so doing is to offer his readers literary therapy for melancholy. This book explores the ways in which the Anatomy dispenses both direct physic and more systemic medicine by encouraging readers to think of melancholy as a privileged mental and spiritual acuity that requires cultivation and management rather than cure. Refuting the prevailing historiography of anxious early modern embodiment that cites Burton as a key witness, Shirilan submits that the Anatomy rejects contemporary Neostoic and Puritan approaches to melancholy. She reads Burton’s erraticism, opacity, and theatricality as modes of resistance against demands for constancy, transparency, and plainness in the popular literature of spiritual and moral hygiene of his day. She shows how Burton draws on rhetorical, theological, and philosophical traditions that privilege the transformative powers of the imagination in order to celebrate melancholic impressionability for its capacity to inspire and engender empathy, charity, and faith.

More books from Taylor and Francis

Cover of the book Israel's National Security Towards the 21st Century by Stephanie Shirilan
Cover of the book Science and Human Progress by Stephanie Shirilan
Cover of the book Marcel Duchamp and the Architecture of Desire by Stephanie Shirilan
Cover of the book Reduced Constructions in Spanish (RLE Linguistics E: Indo-European Linguistics) by Stephanie Shirilan
Cover of the book Methods of Criminological Research by Stephanie Shirilan
Cover of the book Econ Dev Village India Ils 59 by Stephanie Shirilan
Cover of the book Personhood and Social Robotics by Stephanie Shirilan
Cover of the book Monetary Theory in Retrospect by Stephanie Shirilan
Cover of the book Data, Data Everywhere by Stephanie Shirilan
Cover of the book Efficiency and Effort by Stephanie Shirilan
Cover of the book Understanding Sport Management by Stephanie Shirilan
Cover of the book Semiotic Perspectives by Stephanie Shirilan
Cover of the book The Rival Widows, or Fair Libertine (1735) by Stephanie Shirilan
Cover of the book Encountering Death by Stephanie Shirilan
Cover of the book The Biobased Economy by Stephanie Shirilan
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy