De hysterie van de geest. Zwaarmoedigheid in het pseudonieme oeuvre van S. Kierkegaard

In examining the concept of melancholy in the pseudonymous writings of Kierkegaard, one is confronted with a theme that resists any simple approach. It soon becomes clear that the theme of melancholy appears in several places and in various meanings. Although melancholy is implicit in the themes that constantly come to the fore, such as irony, anxiety and despair, it is never subject to a specific treatment and it is the only crucial concept to which no separate volume is dedicated. In the pseudonymous writings, melancholy functions rather as a floating concept for which no single all-encompassing definition can be given. The book examines, departing from a general historical perspective on melancholy, the different forms of melancholy that appear in Kierkegaard's pseudoymous works.