The Anatomy of Melancholy (New York Review of Books Classics Series) by Robert Burton, Holbrook Jackson (Editor), William H. Gass (Introduction)
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(Paperback)
- Pub. Date: January 2001
- 1424pp
- Sales Rank: 66,146
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Product Details
- Pub. Date: January 2001
- Publisher: New York Review of Books
- Format: Paperback, 1424pp
- Sales Rank: 66,146
- Series: New York Review Books Classics Series
- ISBN-13: 9780940322660
- ISBN: 0940322668
Synopsis
One of the major documents of modern European civilization, Robert Burton's astounding compendium, a survey of melancholy in all its myriad forms, has invited nothing but superlatives since its publication in the seventeenth century. Lewellyn Powys called it "the greatest work of prose of the greatest period of English prose-writing," while the celebrated surgeon William Osler declared it the greatest of medical treatises. And Dr. Johnson, Boswell reports, said it was the only book that he rose early in the morning to read with pleasure. In this surprisingly compact and elegant new edition, Burton's spectacular verbal labyrinth is sure to delight, instruct, and divert today's readers as much as it has those of the past four centuries.
The Guardian (London) - Nicholas Lezard
Paperback not so much of the week as of the year, of the decade - or, I am inclined to say, of all time. And why? Because it's the best book ever written, that's why. I use the word "book" with care. It's not a novel, a tract, an epic poem, a history; it is, quite self-consciously, the book to end all books.... And not only that, but it's useful: it makes you less melancholy. So buy it now.
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Wow...This book remains on my end table for regular reading!by garrett64
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August 11, 2009: This massive book is by far the most challenging, yet the most rewarding book I have ever tackled. Do not attempt to read this book from cover to cover, because it is not possible. Read a few pages at a time and let it sink in...that is the only way to really understand Mr. Burton.
This book is funny, disturbing, interesting, and thought provoking! A must read for anyone dealing with "Melancholy" or for those that appreciate a true master piece. I have given this book out as gifts, and with sincere thanks.I Also Recommend: The Kingdom of God Is Within You.
Well worth the effortby Anonymous
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September 10, 2006: After five weeks I'm only halfway through this magnificent, shaggy tome, but whereas at the outset I was good for only five or ten pages at a sitting, I now go thirty to sixty. I took up 'The Anatomy of Melancholy' (hereafter 'TAoM') on the word of the late Robertson Davies, who described it in superlatives, and but for the esteem in which I held the great Canadian magical realist I might have given up within the first hundred pages before the spell took hold. But once you catch the rhythm of this magical book... I'm going to have to quote here from the preface to a variant of this edition: ***'The Anatomy of Melancholy' is the revelation of a personality...so vivid and generous, so tolerant and cranky and wise, so filled with bizarre knowledge and so rich in absurd and touching anecdotes, that an hour in his company is a stimulant to the soul.'*** That about says it. To read 'TAoM' is to be placed in intimate contact with the mind of a tireless scholar who lived four centuries ago, whose insatiable hunger to know the world and whose charming digressions constitute between them an extraordinarily evocative picture of a seventeenth century mind. As I say, I'm only halfway through this, and it took me two weeks to slog through what I'm sure would be less than two days upon the re- reading to make it past the author's preface, but I'm already starting to bore my friends like a new convert to some regimen of exercise, religion, 9/11 conspiracy, or diet. Take up this tome, read it at bedside first for its soporific qualities (I defy you to go five pages at a strech initially) and later because you'll not know how you got this far without it.
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