The Anatomy of Love - (Pushkin Press Classics) by Robert Burton (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A sleek, accessible edition of this classic 17th-century work focusing on love: its joy, madness, and despair - and possibly its cure.

"One of the indispensable books; for my money, it is the best of all." - Philip Pullman

Dryness, paleness, waking, sighing, despair, frenzy, death: love's repercussions can be dire indeed. Perhaps that is why Robert Burton devoted the largest part of his monumental 17th-century psychological work, The Anatomy of Melancholy, to this supreme passion. Edited to offer the modern reader easier access to this classic text, this abridged version preserves all the fantastic variety of the original, as Burton knits together stories and quotations drawn from millennia of European literature in order to understand love's causes, consequences, and cures.

From simple love, honest, pleasant and profitable, to the terrible sequels of jealousy, the grim prognostics for those fallen into love-melancholy, and the dangers of bawds and magic philters, Burton explores every branch and tributary of the great river which can bring us together - or toss us alone onto a desolate shore. We encounter gods and goddesses, ancient kings and queens, lascivious monks and pure-hearted shepherds, marriages happy and unhappy, allurements natural and unnatural, and, most importantly, the cure.

This readable edition of the early modern classic is introduced by contemporary essayist Becca Rothfeld. Intricate yet commonsensical, learned yet earthy, and twinkling throughout with ironic warmth, Burton's masterpiece speaks to the deepest concerns of the human heart as well today as it did four centuries ago.

About the Author

Robert Burton (1577-1640) matriculated at Oxford at the age of 15 and remained there for the rest of his life, eventually being appointed librarian of Christ Church College. Inspired by his own struggle with melancholy, Burton began research into the subject, eventually amassing the collection of musings and quotations that would become The Anatomy of Melancholy. It has been celebrated and ransacked by readers from Samuel Johnson, John Keats, and Laurence Sterne to Northrop Frye, Phillip Pullman and Nick Cave. First published in 1621, the work was immensely popular, and was expanded and reprinted five times over the course of Burton's life.

Becca Rothfeld trained in philosophy. She is the non-fiction book critic at the Washington Post, and the author of essay collection All Things Are Too Small.