Notes on the Ancient and the Ancients in Melancholia, by Jackie Pigeaud

Abstract

These "notes" were read on the occasion of the presentation of the Spanish translation of Melancholia. Le malaise de l'individu, by Jackie Pigeaud, edited by Otro cauce in 2021. In particular, they deal specifically with the presence of the ancients, or, as Pigeaud calls them, the Ancients, with capital letters, in this book. The Ancients are omnipresent in Melancholia, not only because the author's specialty is Classical philology and literature, but also because in philosophy, as well as in literature and medical texts, the Ancients were the first in the West to address the issue of that malaise of the individual that we call melancholy. They did it from different angles, but always in depth and with an excellent comprehension of the human condition; the echoes of this comprehension still reverberate until today in our cultural subconscious, which according to Pigeaud is, precisely, the Ancient, with capital letters as well.