Melancholy Ambling

On English Melancholy

Iris Moon | MIT Press Reader | 9th May 2024

Brief, discursive history of melancholy. In antiquity, it was associated with Saturn, that “ancient devourer of children”. Aristotle believed that the thoughtful ones — poets, artists, philosophers — himself included, were more susceptible. This idea continued into the 17th century: “ponderous thinking” was said to induce melancholy and “commerce with others” was offered as a potential cure (1,400 words)

The Ambling Mind

L.M. Sacasas | Convivial Society | 9th May 2024

Meditations on the virtues of walking. Kierkegaard “walked himself into a state of well-being”; Nietzsche felt that “all truly great thoughts are conceived by walking”. Travel writer Nick Hunt, reflecting on his walk from the Netherlands to Istanbul, noted that walking turned the world into a continuum. “One thing merges into the next: cultures are not separate things but points along a spectrum” (1,800 words)