This book considers melancholy as an "assemblage," as a network of dynamic, interpretive relationships between persons, bodies, texts, spaces, structures, and things. In doing so, it parts ways with past interpretations of melancholy. Tilting the English Renaissance against the present moment, Daniel argues that the basic disciplinary tension between medicine and philosophy persists within contemporary debates about emotional embodiment. To make this case, the book binds together the paintings of Nicholas Hilliard and Isaac Oliver, the drama of Shakespeare, the prose of Burton, and the poetry...

Essays and artworks related to Mors Mystica, a black metal theory symposium on the theme of mystical death. "Only that person who says: 'My soul chooses hanging, and my bones death' can truly embrace this fire . . . for it is absolutely true that 'no one can see me and live.'" -- Bonaventure, Itinerarium Mentis in Deum CONTENTS Introduction: On "Heroes/Helden" Edia Connole & Nicola Masciandaro Following the Stench: Watain and Putrefaction Mysticism Drew Daniel Ablaze in the Bath of Fire Brad Baumgartner Mycelegium James Harris dying to find I was never there Teresa Gillespie On the Ecstasy of...