Lovesickness in 17th- and 18th-Century English Literature

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

What do “lovers” and “madmen” have in common? According to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, it is a shared diagnosis of lovesickness; what Theseus describes as “seething brains” that have become overwhelmed by romantic imagination. Tracing this phenomenon across English literature of the 17th and 18th centuries, our class will examine the history of lovesickness and its portrayals in poetry, drama, mock-epic, letters, and the novel. Together, we will roam London’s playhouses, galleries, and archives to discover how lovesickness in these texts interacts with broader thematic questions of romance, kinship, gender, religion, and power. Central questions: - How does lovesickness in these works operate as a medical affliction (or medicinal cure)? - Does lovesickness necessitate romance? What does a reading of platonic, familial, or even an indifference to romance do for our understanding of love-as-sickness? - What does a focus on lovesickness reveal about 17th and 18th -century attitudes toward social status, gender, sexuality, and education? - How can this help us understand how these ideas manifest in our own society?