author
Robert Burton
1577–1640
Best known for The Anatomy of Melancholy, this Oxford scholar turned a study of sadness into one of the strangest and most wide-ranging books in English literature. Writing under the playful name “Democritus Junior,” he mixed medicine, philosophy, religion, and wit into a work that still feels lively centuries later.
1 Audiobook
The Anatomy of Melancholy
by Robert Burton
About the author
Born in Leicestershire in 1577, Robert Burton became an English scholar, writer, and Anglican clergyman closely associated with Oxford. He studied at Brasenose College and Christ Church, remained a fellow of Christ Church, and spent much of his life in the university world.
Burton is remembered above all for The Anatomy of Melancholy, first published in 1621 and expanded in later editions. The book is part medical survey, part philosophical reflection, and part literary treasure house, gathering together an enormous range of reading on sorrow, human behavior, and the search for balance.
He sometimes wrote under the name “Democritus Junior,” which suits the book’s curious, humorous spirit. Burton died in Oxford in 1640, but his masterpiece has lasted because it is more than a period study of melancholy: it is also a vivid record of a restless, learned, and deeply observant mind.