help me, im drowning in pretentious and useless issues
In connection with a story by V.F. Odoevsky called Beethoven’s last Quartet, I need to discuss the notions of insanity and genius, and if they are related. I find it hard to collect my thoughts on this topic in English, let alone express it in Russian, so any thoughts and opinions greatly received.
The difficulty to start with is that what was called “madness” in the 18th and 19th century seems to me to be now diffused into lots of different illnesses, all politically correct and thoroughly studied, including epilepsy, depression, manias, schizophrenia, and so on. So to talk about “madness” as one particular condition doesn’t really work.
The teacher asks if “genius” is a form of insanity, if to be a genius you have to be unhinged, whether it is a symptom or a cause, which came first, if they are connected. It would seem that to be a genius you have to, to a certain degree, live in a different world from the world of everyday petty concerns and to have different priorities. But does the level of intelligence and brilliance associated with genius have anything to do with insanity?
This is all complicated by my problem of defining what exactly is a “genius”. I generally tend to think that “genius” as such is a kind of social construction - in that history is selective and that in our classical-traditon-Mediterranean-derived-patriarchal tradition has always been geared to report only on white upper class male successes in intellectual spheres. But putting aside feministy questions, there definitely have been these amazingly prodigal and brilliant minds and personalities - Leonardo, Beethoven, Einstein etc. so were they insane at all? And to what degree is “being a genius” associated with egotism, vanity and arrogance?
Answers on a postcard please
The difficulty to start with is that what was called “madness” in the 18th and 19th century seems to me to be now diffused into lots of different illnesses, all politically correct and thoroughly studied, including epilepsy, depression, manias, schizophrenia, and so on. So to talk about “madness” as one particular condition doesn’t really work.
The teacher asks if “genius” is a form of insanity, if to be a genius you have to be unhinged, whether it is a symptom or a cause, which came first, if they are connected. It would seem that to be a genius you have to, to a certain degree, live in a different world from the world of everyday petty concerns and to have different priorities. But does the level of intelligence and brilliance associated with genius have anything to do with insanity?
This is all complicated by my problem of defining what exactly is a “genius”. I generally tend to think that “genius” as such is a kind of social construction - in that history is selective and that in our classical-traditon-Mediterranean-derived-patriarchal tradition has always been geared to report only on white upper class male successes in intellectual spheres. But putting aside feministy questions, there definitely have been these amazingly prodigal and brilliant minds and personalities - Leonardo, Beethoven, Einstein etc. so were they insane at all? And to what degree is “being a genius” associated with egotism, vanity and arrogance?
Answers on a postcard please