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The New Anatomy of Melancholy                              

The New Anatomy of Melancholy: For the common good of all

For the common good of all

BBC Radio 4 - The New Anatomy of Melancholy, For the common good of all

A 400-year-old guide to melancholy. What can it teach us today?

Four hundred years ago, Robert Burton wrote an epic attempt to understand the universal experience of melancholy. What can it teach us today?

In 1621, Robert Burton published The Anatomy of Melancholy. It was the first attempt in the modern western world to understand and categorise causes, symptoms and treatments of that universal human experience. 

In this episode, writer Amy Liptrot concludes the series by bringing our focus back to Burton. Why did he write thousands upon thousands of words on melancholy? What urged him on to seek out every reference to melancholy he could find in the libraries of Oxford? And why did he – unusually for the time - reveal his own vulnerability to the condition?

Dr Christopher Tilmouth from Cambridge University sheds light on Burton’s personal struggles - the vulnerabilities that keep drawing him back to this ‘edifice of learning’.

Rachel Kelly, writer and mental health campaigner, reveals the solace that The Anatomy has brought her over dark times.

Novelist Rob Paulk reflects on his own reading of The Anatomy and why Burton isn’t simply ‘writing of melancholy by being busy to avoid melancholy'.

Psychiatrist John Geddes shares what he thinks Burton’s text can offer us during contemporary, troubled times.

Finally, Amy considers her own epic journey into exploring the vast book and its insights for us all today.  

Simon Russell Beale brings the voice of Robert Burton to life with extracts from The Anatomy of Melancholy.

Presenter: Amy Liptrot
Reader: Simon Russell Beale
Producer: Ruth Abrahams
Series consultant: John Geddes

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