Robert Burton composed The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621) partly because he was a sufferer of melancholy. He said that he wrote to keep himself occupied and as a form of therapy, ‘to ease my mind by writing’. Yet writing was also a symptom of his affliction: ‘one must scratch where it itcheth’. This talk will explore how Burton came to write his great work – the task of most of his adult life. The speaker is Dr Mary Ann Lund, Associate Professor in Renaissance English Literature at the University of Leicester.
The talk accompanies an exhibition about the book that explores how the proposed causes and cures are represented within the art collection of Bethlem Museum of the Mind. The exhibition is on until 27 April.
Buses 119 and 198 from Addiscombe Road will take you to Bethel Museum of the Mind
East Croydon Community Organisation 