This book consists of nine chapters devoted to representations of melancholia in 19th-century
art and literature. A noteworthy feature of the book is its use of concepts from later works by
Sigmund Freud Jean Clair Jean Starobinski Julia Kristeva and others. Those concepts
elucidate further contexts of the notion of melancholia which are presented not in isolation
but juxtaposed with the philosophical background of the concept (starting from Hippocrates and
Aristotle). Thus the book not only provides a survey of images and modes of behaviour of
19th-century individuals but also discusses the meanings of melancholia as they appeared in
European culture over time.
