Portrait of the Blue Lady : the character of melancholy

Introduction: "A melancholy of mine own...". Part 1 - The Blue Lady. 1 Meeting the Blue Lady. Part 2 - Dame Melancholy's tales. 2 Dame Melancholy's family. 3 Metamorphosis of the Blue Lady (or, How the Lady became a tramp). 4 Hard times for melancholy. 5 Old theory for a new age: The humors (embellished by the author). 6 A problem of air. 7 On the tyranny of balance. 8 Greatness, passion, madness. 9 Barren windows: Acedie. 10 Pessimism and relilgious melancholy. 11 Memory and nostalgia. 12 Shame and guilt. Part 3 - Robert Burton's diagnostickes. 13 Robert Burton and his details. Part 4 - Passing through Saturn's rings. 14 Coming almost full circle. CODA (blues style)

'Once imagined in past centuries as an affliction from the gods and as a majestic woman of power and wisdom, Dame Melancholy, the Blue Lady, has been reduced to a modern, impersonal clinical category. But we all get the blues sometimes, and how are we to understand what is going on in the psyche in those blue moods? This book, written in a lyrical style with wit and passion, intends to redeem melancholy and restore it to its rightful place int eh human psyche, as a Muse of creative force, a characteristic of greatness, and a bittersweet comfort in the sensitive soul.'

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