A Field Guide to Melancholy

This was quite an interesting read. Dealing with a subject matter so fraught with mystery and ambiguity is no small feat. The audacity to delve so deep into it is what bumped this up to that 4th star for me.

Bowring starts with a trip through antiquity; touching on the early Greek and Roman perceptions of this mellow state of mind via the four ‘humours'. From here is a patient stroll through national, creative, psychological, and philosophical inquiry where the notion of melancholy is brought into the light for analysis.

Beyond its ability to traverse through so much of human history, the book is a beautiful meditation on things such as the time of melancholy (long Autumn evenings, ‘the season of mists and mellow fruitlessness'), nostalgia, and the melancholic overtones evident through music, architecture, and theatre. All of these things have been of interest to me for some time now, so seeing them reflected upon in such an articulate manner was a real joy.

For me the most refreshing thing about this book is it's yearning for a time where something as, ironically, ‘enabling' as melancholy (as an enabler for clarity of thought, creativity, and eventual peace of mind) wasn't immediately cast aside as the genesis of a more serious season of depression; but rather permitted by society.