Introduction / Kay Redfield Jamison
A delicious placebo / Virginia Heffernan
Toys in the attic : an ars poetica under the influence / Chase Twichell
Bodies in the basement : an ars poetica with attitude Russell Banks
One cheer for melancholy / Susanna Kaysen
Heaven and nature / Edward Hoagland
Poodle bed / Darcey Steinke
From Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen / Larry McMurtry
Noontime / Lauren Slater
Fading to gray / Lee Stringer
From Darkness visible / William Styron
Strands / Rose Styron
An unwelcome career / David Karp
Melancholy and the muse / Ann Beattie
Ghost in the house / Donald Hall
Writing the wrongs of identity / Meri Nana-Ama Danquah
On living behind bars / Nancy Mairs
From The savage god / A. Alvarez
Planet No / Lesley Dormen
A melancholy of mine own / Joshua Wolf Shenk
The legacy / Martha Manning
Wish you were here / Nell Casey
A better place to live / Maud Casey.