AS A WEASEL SUCKS EGGS:

An Essay on Melancholy and Cannibalism

Daniel Birnbaum and Anders Olsson

This mind-altering meditation on hunger, the true nature of food and melancholy was first published in Sweden in 1992. It is no less relevant today, as the authors examine the enigmatic relation of melancholia to an early kind of cannibalism, using readings from Kafka, Beckett, Freud and Hegel, among others, to illustrate their points. Touching on such themes as primitive sacrificial rites and contemporary anthropology, philosophy and linguistic theory, the text asks if it is possible to transfer this idea of a different kind of food to other art forms, such as painting and sculpture. “The saturnine mind is gloomy and depressed, yet inspired and radiant,” write the authors. “It is the state of mind of inspiration.

Add to your order