In The Dark Side of Genius, Laurinda Dixon examines "melancholia" as a philosophical, medical, and social phenomenon in early modern art. Once considered to have a physical and psychic disorder, the melancholic combined positive aspects of genius and breeding with the negative qualities of depression and obsession. By focusing on four exemplary archetypes--the hermit, lover, scholar, and artist--this study reveals that, despite advances in art and science, the idea of the dispirited intellectual continues to function metaphorically as a locus for society's fears and...

In The Dark Side of Genius, Laurinda Dixon examines "melancholia" as a philosophical, medical, and social phenomenon in early modern art. Once considered to have a physical and psychic disorder, the melancholic combined positive aspects of genius and breeding with the negative qualities of depression and obsession. By focusing on four exemplary archetypes--the hermit, lover, scholar, and artist--this study reveals that, despite advances in art and science, the idea of the dispirited intellectual continues to function metaphorically as a locus for society's fears and...