A Field Guide to Melancholy - Couverture rigide

Bowring, Prof. Jacky

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 1842432923 ISBN 13 : 9781842432921

Editeur : Oldcastle Books Ltd, 2008

Synopsis

A depressive illness or a passing feeling? Mental detachment or a precursor to genius? Melancholy is a critical part of what it is to be human, yet everything from Prozac to self help psychology books seems intent on removing all signs of sadness from contemporary existence. Complex and contradictory, melancholy's presence weaves through the histories of both science and art.

The Field Guide to Melancholy surveys this ambivalent concept and takes a journey through its articulation in a variety of languages, from the Russian toska of Pushkin's Eugene Onegin, to kaiho - which is expressed in the dancing of the Finnish tango. Melancholy is found in the historic traditions of death's presence in paradise, the tears of nature, along with nostalgia, pathos, and melancholy's presiding god, Saturn. In contemporary society, melancholy becomes a fashion statement in the subculture of the Emo.

By drawing on a range of disciplines from psychology and philosophy to architecture and design, and by examining the work of creative figures as different as Ingmar Bergman, Albrecht Dürer, WG Sebald and Tom Waits, Jacky Bowring provides an original perspective on one of the most elusive, enigmatic and fascinating of human conditions.

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

Prof. Jacky Bowring is a critic, designer and writer. She is Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture at Lincoln University in New Zealand, and has published widely on landscape and architecture, working with ideas from psychoanalysis, literary theory, and aesthetic conventions such as the Picturesque and the Sublime.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Oldcastle Books Ltd
• Date d'édition: 2008
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1842432923
• ISBN 13: 9781842432921
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 240
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible