Varieties of Melancholy 
A hopeful guide to our somber moods

This is a book that celebrates the most neglected but valuable emotion we can feel: melancholy. Melancholy isn’t depression, rage, or bitterness, it’s a serene, wise, and kindly response to the difficulties of being alive. It steers a mid-way course between despair on the one hand and naïve optimism on the other.



But melancholy is a well-kept secret. Those who feel the pull of melancholy moods tend to stay quiet. We don’t often hear melancholy being celebrated or accorded the respect that it deserves. It languishes unexplored in a hyper-competitive, noisy, frantic age.



This book carefully collects and interprets a selection of the most universally recognizable melancholy states of mind, rendering us less confused by our precious yet elusive feelings. We discover the melancholy of Sunday evenings and the melancholy of adolescence, the melancholy of parties and the melancholy of crushes.



Offering a varied portrait of melancholy and its range of emotions, Varieties of Melancholy leads the reader to both insight, acceptance, and self-compassion.

Innehållsförteckning

Introduction

Intelligence & Melancholy

Pills & Melancholy

Loneliness & Melancholy

Achievement & Melancholy

Superfluity & Melancholy

Photos & Melancholy

The Womb & Melancholy

Astronomy & Melancholy

Landscape & Melancholy

Introversion & Melancholy

Sex & Melancholy

Post-Coitus & Melancholy

History & Melancholy

Righteousness & Melancholy

Crushes & Melancholy

Parties & Melancholy

Splitting & Melancholy

Post-Religion & Melancholy

Sonnet 29 & Melancholy

Architecture & Melancholy

Adolescence & Melancholy

Fifty & Melancholy

Luxury & Melancholy

Sunday Evening & Melancholy

Agnes Martin & Melancholy

Hokusai & Melancholy

Travel & Melancholy

Misanthropy & Melancholy

Extinction & Melancholy

America & Melancholy

Animals & Melancholy

Tahiti & Melancholy

Politics & Melancholy

The Inner Critic & Melancholy

Gardening & Melancholy

Om författaren

The School of Life is a global organization helping people lead more fulfilled lives. Through our range of books, gifts and stationery we aim to prompt more thoughtful natures and help everyone to find fulfillment. The School of Life is a resource for exploring self-knowledge, relationships, work, socializing, finding calm, and enjoying culture through content, community, and conversation. You can find us online, in stores and in welcoming spaces around the world offering classes, events, and one-to-one therapy sessions.
The School of Life is a rapidly growing global brand, with over 6 million You Tube subscribers, 351, 000 Facebook followers, 218, 000 Instagram followers and 163, 000 Twitter followers.
The School of Life Press brings together the thinking and ideas of the School of Life creative team under the direction of series editor, Alain de Botton. Their books share a coherent, curated message that speaks with one voice: calm, reassuring, and sane.