
Genius
History of an Idea
Penelope Murray(Author)
Wiley (Publisher)
1st Edition
Published on 29. August 1989
Book
Hardback
248 pages
978-0-631-15785-4 (ISBN)
Description
This book explores the history of the idea of genius from its origins in classical antiquity to its deconstruction in postmodernist criticism. Focusing mainly on the creative arts, the book examines certain key points in the development of the idea, and also addresses the problem of what constitutes genius in specific subject areas. Experts in different fields have contributed chapters on literature, art, music, mathematics, philosophy and psychiatry to produce a volume which illuminates an abiding obsession throughout the history of European culture. The contributors to this volume show how the ancient image of the inspired poet and the Renaissance conception of the divino artista both anticipate later notions of genius, developed into the 18th century around the central figures of Homer, Shakespeare and Goethe. Romantic definitions of genius are analysed, as are the implications of Nietzsche's pronouncements on 'human greatness'. The historic conjunction of genius and madness is explored from the early belief in divine possession through the Renaissance notion of melancholy to the age of psychoanalysis.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Hoboken
United Kingdom
Publishing group
John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 162 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
482 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-631-15785-4 (9780631157854)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Penelope Murray is Lecturer in Classics at the University of Warwick.
Content
Poetic genius and its classical origins / Penelope Murray The "super-artist" as genius: the sixteenth-century view / Martin Kemp
The second Homeric Renaissance: allegoresis and genius in early modern poetics / Glenn Most
Shakespeare and original genius / Jonathan Bate
Goethe on genius / Michael Beddow
The emptiness of genius: aspects of Romanticism / Drummond Bone
Nietzsche on genius / Michael Tanner
Deconstructing genius: Paul de Man and the critique of Romantic ideology / Christopher Norris
What is musical genius? / Wilfrid Mellers
Genius in mathematics / Clive Kilmister
Genius and mental disorder: a history of ideas concerning their conjunction / Neil Kessel
Genius and psychoanalysis: Freud, Jung and the concept of personality / Anthony Storr
The second Homeric Renaissance: allegoresis and genius in early modern poetics / Glenn Most
Shakespeare and original genius / Jonathan Bate
Goethe on genius / Michael Beddow
The emptiness of genius: aspects of Romanticism / Drummond Bone
Nietzsche on genius / Michael Tanner
Deconstructing genius: Paul de Man and the critique of Romantic ideology / Christopher Norris
What is musical genius? / Wilfrid Mellers
Genius in mathematics / Clive Kilmister
Genius and mental disorder: a history of ideas concerning their conjunction / Neil Kessel
Genius and psychoanalysis: Freud, Jung and the concept of personality / Anthony Storr