Genius, Lunatics, and Poets: Mental Illness in Prize-Winning Authors

The links between mental illness and the creative arts, especially creative writing, are well-established, if controversial. Several studies have found more mental illness in creative writers than in control groups; few studies, however, have investigated the truly eminent, genius-level writers. To address the question of how genius-level writers compare to merely accomplished writers, two historiometric studies examined writers who won the Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize. Study One examined 986 20th century writers, while Study Two 889 American writers from the 17th century to the present day. In both studies, both types of prize-winners were more likely to suffer from mental illness than non-winners. In addition, Nobel Prize winners were more likely to suffer from alcoholism (Study One) and experience a personal tragedy (Study Two). Implications and theoretical possibilities are discussed.

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The Qur'an in the Novels of Naguib Mahfouz (in Arabic)

Journal of Qur anic Studies ◽

10.3366/jqs.2014.0168 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 16 (3) ◽

pp. 126-104

Author(s):

M.A.S. Abdel Haleem

Keyword(s):

Creative Writing ◽

Nobel Prize ◽

Literary Works ◽

Modern Education ◽

Ubiquitous Presence ◽

Structural Aspects ◽

Artistic Talent ◽

Naguib Mahfouz

With a rich, productive career spanning over 60 years, culminating in the award of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988, Naguib Mahfouz's literary works have naturally attracted numerous studies and critiques. These studies have covered a great many aspects of Mahfouz's creative writing, but, perhaps because of the secular, modern education Mahfouz received (both at school and in the Department of Philosophy in Cairo University), and his personal lifestyle, they have concentrated on the socialist, materialist, and structural aspects of his work. Perhaps because of this, one important aspect of his writing has largely escaped attention: his artistic use of the language of the Qur'an. Mahfouz does not signal that a given phrase or reference is Qur'anic, leaving it to blend with the text, and making it easy to miss the fact that the Qur'an played any part in Mahfouz's use of language. However, to a reader who knows the Qur'an by heart the presence of Qur'anic language in his works is obvious, and equally obvious is Mahfouz's artistic talent in using it. Eventually, he himself announced at the end of his life that he had always had an intimate interest in the Qur'an, read it daily, and benefited from it. This article seeks to demonstrate the ubiquitous presence of Qur'anic language in Mahfouz's works, and the skill and subtlety with which he used it.

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What If It Wasn’t Kato Who Raped Diana? Representing the Yearning for Justice in As I Stood Dead Before the World: Creative Writing from Luzira Prison (2018)

Imbizo ◽

10.25159/2663-6565/6573 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Danson Sylvester Kahyana

Keyword(s):

Creative Writing ◽

Short Story ◽

Human Beings ◽

Innocent People ◽

Creative Writers ◽

The World

The article examines how selected works in Uganda’s first anthology of prison-authored work, As I Stood Dead before the World: Creative Writing from Luzira Prison (2018), handle one of the issues of paramount importance to inmates and their families: the possibility that convictions in courts of law are not foolproof since judicial officers are human beings and therefore susceptible to error. Drawing from four examples: two poems (Jackson O’s “Letter to Aber” and Sebuuma Gadafi’s “Twenty-Years”), one short story (Rachael Pearl Orishaba’s “A Secret”), and one short play (Jennifer Janette’s “What If It Wasn’t Kato?”), I show how different inmates imagine situations where judicial officers (prosecutors and magistrates/judges) make errors of judgement that see innocent people convicted of crimes they did not commit. The article closely reads the four selected pieces with the objective of investigating how creative writers can help judicial officers realise how important it is to turn every proverbial stone before a conviction is made.

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Public Libraries of the Vladimir and Kostroma Provinces' District Towns in the Second Half of the 19th — early 20th Century

Bibliotekovedenie [Library and Information Science (Russia)] ◽

10.25281/0869-608x-2010-0-5-98-101 ◽

2010 ◽

pp. 98-101 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Aleksey A. Soloviev

Keyword(s):

20Th Century ◽

Statistical Data ◽

Public Libraries ◽

17Th Century ◽

Early 20Th Century ◽

Native Population ◽

History Of

On the history of the first public libraries in the province towns of Vladimirskaya and Kostromskaya provinces in the second half of the 17th century - early 20th century. The author considers main statistical data of libraries and analyses necessity and influence of these libraries and reading rooms on the native population.

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Origine et diffusion des expressions romanes du type jaune paille

Romanische Forschungen ◽

10.3196/003581221831922391 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 133 (1) ◽

pp. 3-27

Author(s):

Sara Matrisciano ◽

Franz Rainer

Keyword(s):

20Th Century ◽

19Th Century ◽

18Th Century ◽

17Th Century ◽

16Th Century ◽

Romance Languages ◽

Short Discussion ◽

Colour Term ◽

The 19Th Century ◽

And Diffusion

All major Romance languages have patterns of the type jaune paille for expressing shades of colour represented by some prototypical object. The first constituent of this pattern is a colour term, while the second one designates a prototypical representative of the colour shade. The present paper starts with a short discussion of the controversial grammatical status of this pattern and its constituents. Its main aim, however, concerns the origin and diffusion of this pattern. We have not found hard and fast evidence that Medieval Italian pigment compounds of the type verderame influenced the rise of the jaune paille pattern, which first appears in French in the 16th century. This pattern continued to be a minority solution during the 17th century, but established itself during the 18th century. In the 19th century, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese adopted the pattern jaune paille, while it did not reach Catalan and Romanian before the 20th century.

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Accidents Happen: An Art Autopathography on Mental Disability

Disability Studies Quarterly ◽

10.18061/dsq.v33i1.3441 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 33 (1) ◽

Author(s):

John Derby

Keyword(s):

Mental Illness ◽

Creative Writing ◽

Conceptual Framework ◽

Mental Disability ◽

Font Size ◽

Research Practices ◽

The Arts ◽

Art Practices ◽

Institutional Contexts ◽

Literary Arts

This essay uses Couser’s presentation of autopathography as a frame for disseminating creative autoethnographic research practices. The preface outlines the conceptual framework for the research, which critically explores personal, cultural, and institutional contexts of mental disability discourses in response to Foucault’s thesis that the arts dismantle normalizing myths about mental disability. Following Foucault’s treatment of visual, performing, and literary arts as a homogeneous entity, the ensuing story demonstrates how traditional and emerging art practices and creative writing can be hybridized to create complex representations of disability that challenge ableist, normalizing discourses.keywords: art, autopathography, hybridity, mental illness, mental disability

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Convention as the Source of the Avant-Garde. Remarks on the Inventiveness of Poetics of the Past

Roczniki Humanistyczne ◽

10.18290/rh.2018.66.1-2e ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 66 (1 SELECTED PAPERS IN ENGLISH) ◽

pp. 19-31

Author(s):

Barbara Niebelska-Rajca

Keyword(s):

20Th Century ◽

17Th Century ◽

16Th Century ◽

Avant Garde ◽

The Past ◽

Polish Version ◽

Dominant Tendency ◽

Late Renaissance ◽

Theoretical Reflection ◽

Present Text

The Polish version of the article was published in “Roczniki Humanistyczne,” vol. 59 (2011), issue 1. Modern theoretical-literary treatises, defined as normative poetics, are usually connected with the dominance of the convention and normativism, with obligatory rules, canonical concepts and restrictive directives hampering originality. The present text tries to revise the conviction that convention is a dominant tendency in the development of the old theoretical thought; it tends to show the avant-garde aspects of modern poetics and to present the relations between what is conventional and what is innovative in the most original theoretical texts of late Renaissance and Baroque. Examples of two avant-garde modern poetics—Francesco Patrizi’s theory of wonder formed at the end of the 16th century and the 17th century Emanuele Tesauro’s conceptistic theory—show that tradition and convention are necessary elements of inventive theories. The avant-garde of poetics of the past, contrary to the avant-garde of the 20th century, is not born from the defiance of the earlier theories but is formed by way of modernizing and transforming them. Old inventive theories—despite all the departures from tradition—are still part of the classical paradigm. Hence, the avant-garde character of late-Renaissance and Baroque theoretical reflection consists in a peculiar synergy of convention and novelty.

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Dutch Flower Still Life of 17th Century: Interest and Oblivion through the Centuries

Observatory of Culture ◽

10.25281/2072-3156-2021-18-5-496-505 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (5) ◽

pp. 496-505

Author(s):

Olga Yu. Kulakova

Keyword(s):

20Th Century ◽

The United States ◽

17Th Century ◽

Consumer Society ◽

Still Life ◽

Art Dealers ◽

The Subject ◽

Auction Prices ◽

The 19Th Century ◽

Still Life Painting

Over three and a half centuries, the genre of flower still life created by Dutch artists experienced ups of interest and oblivion. There were the maximum assessment of society in the form of high fees of the 17th century artists; the criticism of connoisseurs and art theorists; the neglect in the 19th century and the rise of auction prices and close attention of art critics, manifested from the middle of the 20th century to the present day. In the middle of the 17th century, there was already a hierarchy of genres, based on both the subject and the size of the paintings, which was reflected in the price. Still lifes and landscapes were cheaper than allegorical and historical scenes, but there were exceptions, for example, in the works of Jan Brueghel the Elder and Jan Davidsz. de Heem. Art theorists Willem van Hoogstraten and Arnold Houbraken, resting upon academic tastes, downplayed the importance of still-life painting. Meanwhile, the artists themselves, determining the worth of their paintings, sought for maximum naturalism, and such paintings were sold well.In the 20th century, this genre attracted the attention of collectors in Europe and the United States. A revival of interest in Dutch still lifes in general, and in flower ones in particular, began in the 20th century, the paintings rose in price at auctions, and collecting them became almost a fashion. Art societies and art dealers of the Netherlands and Belgium organized several small exhibitions of still lifes. The course for studying symbolic messages in still lifes, presented by Ingvar Bergström, is continued by Eddie de Jong, who emphasizes the diverse nature of symbolism in Dutch painting of the 17th century. Svetlana Alpers, on the contrary, criticizes the iconological method and presents the Dutch painting of that period as an example of visual culture. Norman Bryson’s view of Dutch still lifes is formed against the background of the development of a consumer society, economic prosperity and abundance. Finally, there has been an increasing interest in the natural science aspects of flower still-life painting in the researches of the last twenty years. Curiosity, skill, and admiration for nature are the impulses that can still be felt in the images of bouquets and fruits.

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„In den Lüften liegt Man nicht eng“. Anmerkungen zur unauflösbaren Tragik des Dichters Paul Celan

Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Philologia ◽

10.24193/subbphilo.2021.3.01 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 66 (3) ◽

pp. 9-34

Author(s):

Horst Samson ◽

Keyword(s):

Mental Illness ◽

Paul Celan ◽

The Holocaust ◽

Personal Tragedy

"“In the Air Where You Won’t Lie Too Cramped.” Notes on the Irresolvable Tragedy of the Poet Paul Celan. Paul Celan's work is characterized by reflections on the power and possibilities of language and poetry in general in processing personal tragedy and painful borderline experiences, especially the experience of the Holocaust. These experiences range from the persecution of Jews, the deportation and murder of his parents, to the ""Goll Plagiarism Affair"" or to mental illness in the last years of his life. These experiences of persecution and extermination of the Jews and Celan's involvement in the tragedy of his people are reflected in many of his poems, especially in Todesfuge. Keywords: Celan, Shoa, modern German poetry and language, tragedy "

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Rwanda Since 1994

10.3828/liverpool/9781786941992.001.0001 ◽

2019 ◽

Keyword(s):

Creative Writing ◽

International Relations ◽

Great Lakes ◽

East Africa ◽

The Past ◽

Law And Politics ◽

Creative Writers ◽

Political Narratives ◽

New Directions ◽

And Gender

Over the past 25 years, Rwanda has undergone remarkable shifts and transitions: culturally, economically, and educationally the country has gone from strength to strength. While much scholarship has understandably been retrospective, seeking to understand, document and commemorate the Genocide against the Tutsi, this volume gathers diverse perspectives on the changing social and cultural fabric of Rwanda since 1994. Rwandan Since 1994 considers the context of these changes, particularly in relation to the ongoing importance of remembering and in wider developments in the Great Lakes and East Africa regions. Equally it explores what stories of change are emerging from Rwanda: creative writing and testimonies, as well as national, regional, and international political narratives. The contributors interrogate which frameworks and narratives might be most useful for understanding different kinds of change, what new directions are emerging, and how Rwanda's trajectory is ongoingly shaped by other global factors. The international set of contributors includes creative writers, practitioners, activists, and scholars from African studies, history, anthropology, education, international relations, modern languages, law and politics. As well as delving into the shifting dynamics of religion and gender in Rwanda today, the book brings to light the experiences of lesser-discussed groups of people such as the Twa and the children of perpetrators.

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Orientalism Revisited

Advances in Media, Entertainment, and the Arts - Handbook of Research on Contemporary Approaches to Orientalism in Media and Beyond ◽

10.4018/978-1-7998-7180-4.ch013 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 214-230

Author(s):

Elvan Ozkavruk Adanir ◽

Berna Ileri

Keyword(s):

20Th Century ◽

21St Century ◽

Daily Life ◽

17Th Century ◽

Social Structures ◽

Positive Contribution ◽

The West ◽

Eastern Culture ◽

The Social ◽

Definition Of

Orientalism is a Western and Western-centric broad field of research that studies the social structures, cultures, languages, histories, religions, and geographies of countries to the east of Europe. The term took on a secondary, detrimental association in the 20th century which looks down on the East. However, this chapter will not dwell on the definition of Orientalism that is debated the most; instead, it will discuss the positive contribution of Orientalism to Western culture. Even though the West otherizes the East in daily life, when it comes to desire, vanity, luxury, and flamboyance without hesitating a moment it adopts these very elements from the Eastern culture. It could be said that this adaptation brings these societies closer in one way or another. The highly admired fashion of Orientalism in the West starting from the 17th century until the 21st century will be the focus of this study.

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