MelancholyA leading European intellectual reflects on the changing concept of melancholy throughout history Alberto Manguel praises the Hungarian writer Lszl Fldnyi as one of the most brilliant essayists of our time. Fldnyis extraordinary Melancholy, with its profusion of literary, ecclesiastical, artistic, and historical insights, gives proof to such praise. His book, part history of the term melancholy and part analysis of the melancholic disposition,