Melancholy and Literary Biography, 1640-1816

This scholarly work examines how eighteenth-century literary biography evolved by using writers' melancholy as a lens to explore the inner life, tracing this development from 1640 through the Romantic era. Through detailed case studies of significant authors, the book reveals the 1790s as a particularly fertile period for biographical experimentation, when the connection between creative genius and emotional suffering became a central focus. The analysis demonstrates how biographers began probing psychological depths rather than merely chronicling external events, fundamentally changing how readers understood literary figures.

What distinguishes this study is its compelling argument that reaction against this psychologically probing "philosophical biography" ultimately shaped nineteenth-century preferences for romanticized literary lives. The book offers valuable insights for students of literary history, biography as a genre, and the cultural understanding of melancholy's relationship to creativity. Readers interested in the intersection of mental health discourse and literary representation will find particularly rich material in its exploration of how biographical practices constructed enduring myths about the troubled artist.