The Anatomy of Love

A sleek, accessible edition of this classic 17th-century work focusing on love: its joy, madness, and despair – and possibly its cure.

“One of the indispensable books; for my money, it is the best of all.” – Philip Pullman

Dryness, paleness, waking, sighing, despair, frenzy, death: love’s repercussions can be dire indeed. Perhaps that is why Robert Burton devoted the largest part of his monumental 17th-century psychological work, The Anatomy of Melancholy, to this supreme passion. Edited to offer the modern reader easier access to this classic text, this abridged version preserves all the fantastic variety of the original, as Burton knits together stories and quotations drawn from millennia of European literature in order to understand love’s causes, consequences, and cures.

From simple love, honest, pleasant and profitable, to the terrible sequels of jealousy, the grim prognostics for those fallen into love-melancholy, and the dangers of bawds and magic philters, Burton explores every branch and tributary of the great river which can bring us together – or toss us alone onto a desolate shore. We encounter gods and goddesses, ancient kings and queens, lascivious monks and pure-hearted shepherds, marriages happy and unhappy, allurements natural and unnatural, and, most importantly, the cure.

This readable edition of the early modern classic is introduced by contemporary essayist Becca Rothfeld. Intricate yet commonsensical, learned yet earthy, and twinkling throughout with ironic warmth, Burton’s masterpiece speaks to the deepest concerns of the human heart as well today as it did four centuries ago.