Melancholia. The Case of George Bacovia

ABSTRACT. With half a mind to George Bacovia (1881–1957), melancholia is hereby associated with dysthymia, anhedonia and alcohol binges, and complicated by episodes of major depression in 1913, 1928, 1930, 1936 – at such grim times the diagnosis being “double depression.” And yet, notwithstanding such a chore-like life of quiet desperation, Bacovia was able to write an exquisite poetry ranking him, with Tudor Arghezi, Ion Barbu and Lucian Blaga, as one of the four “greats” of modern poetry in Romania. Our research draws mostly on the poems that provide a continuum to the inner life and thus help the clinician to accurately diagnose the poet’s condition.

Keywords: melancholy; anhedonia; alcohol abuse; solitude; empathy; emptiness