The modern phenomenon of boredom is explored from philosophical as well as political, traditional and new media criticism, and psychological perspectives in this collection of nine essays.
Pezze (cultural studies, Fondazione G. Toniolo, Italy) and Salzani (comparative literature and cultural studies, Monash U., Australia) trace the genealogy of this "demon of modernity" back to
the High Middle Age and Renaissance concepts of " ennui" and "melancholy." Other authors examine the political and artistic nature of boredom; philosophical treatments of boredom by Kierkegaard
and Heidegger; Walter Benjamin's theories regarding the disintegration of traditional forms of experience applied in analyses of boredom in Herzog's cinema, and modern information societies;
and psychology's linking of boredom to maladaptive behaviors. The volume is not indexed. Annotation 穢2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
