Publisher's Synopsis
Starry nights: high mood with sorrowful depression in the corner. Vincent van Gogh is the bipolar icon. On the back cover van Gogh's therapist Dr. Gachet, who produced a list of famous melancholics, including Aristotle, Rembrandt, Jesus and Mohammed. The brothers van Gogh had a good laugh about this, but in retrospect they belonged to those outstanding melancholics. The term 'melancholic is traced to Aristotle. The Greek philosopher's surprising views on hot and cold melancholy, its symptoms and medication are elaborated. He also listed outstanding (bipolar) melancholics including Ajax. On the back cover the Greek hero is preparing to commit suicide. The same fate befell Virginia Woolf, pictured in a striking new bipolar portrait by Christiaan Tonnis. In the book we listen to other writers and poets from various countries and ages expressing their swing from depression to (hypo) mania. David and Solomon, Seneca and Dante, Goethe, Emily Dickinson, Baudelaire, Pushkin and Sylvia Plath. And of course Virginia Woof. Comparative literature with a difference. Well known verses, placed in an original way according to the phase of mood swing obtain a new and moving meaning. Carefully selected poetry from three millennia gives and empathetic look into the bipolar soul - very recognizable for who, like the author have been there. This well documented and accessible book gives new insights into bipolar creativity as a process of destruction and creation. Summed up by the Biblical Solomon, "There is a time to break down and a time to build up." Bipolar creativity requires both depression and hypomania. The author is a Dutch bipolar philosopher, stabilized on lithium. Comments welcome to [email protected]
