Melankolin som manligt privilegium : Studier av melankolin i breven från tre romantiska män

The essay deals with the idea of melancholia as an exclusively male feeling associated with geniality and eminence, as it is shown in the letters of three romantic men. These letters were written by the philosopher Benjamin Höijer, the poet P.D.A Atterbom, and the musician Adolf Fredrik Lindblad to their female friends Henriette von Rosenstein, Euphrosyne, and Malla Silfverstolpe. Romantic masculinity is a neglected topic that is in need of further research. An essential characteristic of romanticism is the appreciation of feeling. According to the traditional dualistic gender division though, women represented sensibility, while men instead were associated with reason. Melancholia can therefore be considered as a way for romantic men to develop a specifically male feeling of gravity and gloominess and keep it separated from a more light-hearted female sensibility. It also maintains the partition between a masculine public and a feminine private sphere, since melancholia can be seen as a more important public sensibility related to the whole of humanity, while female sorrow is restricted to personal circumstances. Though melancholia is often seen as a negative feeling, it is kept as a male privilege