When the Grass Was Greener
Melancholy has a long and complex history. Sometimes its past, with all its connotations becomes more of a burden than an explanatory part of its fleeting existence. Still our interpretation of the term today is heavily influenced by this multifaceted past. The term still carries traits from both Freud’s interpretation of melancholia and from the “emotional vulnerability” he claimed to have found in our experience of transitory and ephemeral phenomena. Even though melancholy is inextricably linked to its history – it also has an unusual ability to reinvent and adapt itself to a contemporary setting. Melancholy forms a part of the human psyche and is an underlying aspect of our makeup.In the presence of melancholy, I become if only for a moment, captured by fleeting fragments of the past filled with memories that I cannot locate.
