{"title":"Dr. or Prof. Jonathan C. Williams","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDr. or Prof. Jonathan C. Williams\u003c\/strong\u003e offers profound explorations within the realm of \u003cem\u003eArts \u0026amp; Culture\u003c\/em\u003e, inviting readers to reflect on the nuances of human experience. His works, including titles such as \u003cem\u003eMelancholic Life\u003c\/em\u003e, blend thoughtful analysis with evocative prose, providing insight into emotional and intellectual landscapes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReaders can expect contemplative narratives that challenge and enrich perspectives on cultural identity, emotion, and creativity. Williams' writings serve as a bridge between scholarly inquiry and accessible reflection, making his collection essential for those drawn to the deeper currents of artistic life.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"melancholic-life-by-dr-or-prof-jonathan-c-williams-9798765127308","title":"Melancholic Life","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA study of how 18th-century British literary writers deployed melancholic feeling to draw a complex web of relations between the embodied self and its historical present.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMelancholic Life\u003c\/em\u003e argues that what binds 18th-century melancholics, such as the speaker of James Thomson, Sarah Fielding’s David Simple, or William Cowper, is a belief that critical thought is worth voicing whether or not it contributes to social change. That belief converges with 18th-century ideas of sentiment and loneliness, but it also syncs up in surprising ways with theoretical models of political subjectivity that emerge in the 20th and 21st centuries.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eJonathan C. Williams thus proposes a new way of thinking about the critical importance of literary melancholy in the 18th century: as the language of melancholic social criticism, a solitary protest against exploitative features of social life, including global commerce and print capitalism. That form of melancholic life helps to trace a genealogy from Robert Burton’s Democritus to Defoe’s Crusoe, to the Romantic period; it also yokes the early capitalist historical moment of Mackenzie’s \u003cem\u003eThe Man of Feeling\u003c\/em\u003e to the post-1968 modernity that characterizes the work of Theodor W. Adorno.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs \u003cem\u003eMelancholic Life\u003c\/em\u003e shows, melancholic social criticism persists even when there is little hope. That spirit of persistence becomes a condition of literary expression in the 18th century. Attention to melancholic expression reveals resonances not only to medical, religious, poetic, and philosophical language, but also between 18th-century thinkers and your own historical moment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47397906284780,"sku":"9798765127308","price":371.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9201573488869.jpg?v=1773731780"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/collections\/dr-or-prof-jonathan-c-williams.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}