A Saudade do artista

despatologizar a melancolia

Abstract

This paper seeks to discuss three concepts: Melancholy, Nostalgia, and ‘Saudade’ (portuguese word translated by Joaquim Nabuco as a combination of four words: remembrance, love, grief and longing) based on the social understanding of their meanings, which can vary between being a pathological state and an individual characteristic representing the artist's sensitivity and tenderness. Authors such as Jean Starobinski, Susan Sontag, Sigmund Freud, Svetlana Boym, Roberto DaMatta, and others inform the theoretical reflections of this work, through a critical analysis of scientific articles, essays, and published works. This paper discusses the ongoing psychopathologization of mental states and how these diagnoses can be avoided, based on the understanding that not everything constitutes an illness.