What then is melancholy? It is hysteria of the spirit. But melancholy is sin, really it is a sin as great as any, for it is the sin of not willing deeply and sincerely, and this is the mother of all sins. This sickness, or more properly, this sin, is extremely common in our time, and accordingly it is under this that the whole of German and French youth groan. I gladly admit that being melancholy is in a sense not a bad sign. People whose souls have no acquaintance with melancholy have no presentiment of metamorphosis. ~ Either/Or
Søren Says
May 8, 2007 by at 7:39 pm
See also Durer, Munch , Degas, Toorop, and Nour.