Melancholic aesthetics in the human body

Among the variety of different states of human soul, melancholy boldly stands out. Throughout its two-thousand-year history, melancholy has been endowed with different meanings, symbols, characteristics, all of which make it a paradoxically complex and absolutely unique phenomenon. Containing mainly the specifics of a human's perception of the outer world, melancholy has long remained a central cultural idea in Western European history, which was reflected in numerous works of art left as a legacy by the bygone historical eras; and it consequently made a tremendous impact on the entire world culture. Being by nature an ambivalent and a multi-sense concept, melancholy at the same time embraces a specific aesthetic depth, which uniquely finds its expression in the human body. The present thesis is devoted to investigating and revealing the peculiarities of reflection and manifestation of melancholic aesthetics in the human body. The author's primary aim is to answer the following questions: What lies in the uniqueness of the melancholy concept? How is melancholy different from depression? What makes melancholic aesthetics one-of-a-kind? What is the language of bodily melancholy? What are the features of the aesthetic manifestation of melancholy in the human body? In addition, in the present work, the author aims to share her individual experience of living through melancholy in her personal life. On the basis of these circumstances, the author's artistic works on the theme of melancholic aesthetics in the human body were made.