Topics in German Culture and Society: Cultures of Melancholy: Literature, Art and Science

Oscillating between insanity and furor divinus, the concept of melancholy has been linked to genius and creativity from Aristotle through the medieval concept of acedia, to literary work around 1800 and into the 20th Century. The course will trace the development of melancholy in its diverse relations to visual art and literature, and to different medical, philosophical, astrological, religious and psychological discourses. By focusing especially on the impact melancholy has on sign systems and on the imagination, it explores melancholy not only as a topic of literature and visual arts, but as a basic component of expression as such.