When the 17th century poet John Dryden spoke of "great wits are sure to
madness near alli'd/ And thin partitions do their bounds divide", he was
neither the first nor the last to associate the creative mind with
madness. For instance, in our own time, the psychiatrist Kay Redfield
Jamison has written an entire book on the "compelling association ...
between two temperaments -- the artistic and the manic depressive". And
looking ahead, in May 2005, the Durrell School of Corfu is holding a
seminar on 'Madness and Creativity'. But for the 18th/19th century
writer Charles Lamb ruminating over poetic genius, "It is impossible ...
to conceive of a mad Shakespeare". For Lamb, anything but the 'sanity
of true genius' is problematic. "Poetic talent", he said, "manifests
itself in the admirable balance of all the faculties".
In my talk, I will walk through some of the recent discussions
pertaining to this debate and present my own (tentative) conclusion.
Poets, scientists, composers, inventors, mathematicians, playrights, and
painters (at least one of each) will make cameo appearances along the
way.