The Genesis of Artistic Creativity: Asperger's Syndrome and the Arts

by Michael Fitzgerald

The nature of artistic creativity and its relationship with 'difference' has intrigued people for centuries. The Genesis of Artistic Creativity is a revealing exploration of the lives of 21 famous writers, philosophers, musicians and painters including George Orwell, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Andy Warhol and many others, in light of the recognized criteria for diagnosis of high-functioning autism and Asperger's Syndrome (AS). Having diagnosed hundreds of individuals with AS during his professional career, Professor Fitzgerald examines here the social behaviour, language, humour, and obsessive interests and routines that accompanied creative genius in the past four centuries. From Herman Melville's eccentric breakfast habits and Simone Weil's intense dislike of being touched by other people to Ludwig van Beethoven's inappropriate marriage proposals and Vincent van Gogh's inability to form satisfying relationships with others, the author offers compelling insights into the association between creativity and autism spectrum disorders. only for professionals in the field of autism and AS, but for anyone interested in the sources of creativity and the arts.

Genres: Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Science

256 pages, Paperback

First published July 19, 2005

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Michael Fitzgerald is an Irish professor of child and adolescent psychiatry, specialising in autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Wikipedia

Reviews

[Tweedledum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating study of some amazing dead geniuses in the field of science, maths, philosophy and various arts in the light of what we now know about ASD. Fitzgerald has tried to stick to known "facts" but has inevitably been selective in choosing the "facts" . Whether those facts truly add up to a fair diagnosis the reader must decide but certainly considerable food for thought. ASD is now such a blanket diagnosis for a multiplicity of "Symptoms" caution must be applied when considering whether this or that genius should be added to the panoply of ASD heros and heroines.

[Clifton D. Healy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very interesting approach to a biographical examination of various writers, philosophers, composers and painters. It applies the clinical behavioral diagnostic criteria of autism to the respective lives to assess whether an individual was on the spectrum. The author acknowledges the limitations of such an approach, but since autism is diagnosed through behavioral criteria (as opposed to subjective feeling states or biomedical markers) he makes persuasive cases for an autism diagnosis in various of the respective lives. This or that reader may not be so persuaded, but it is a unique and interesting way to do biography. The reader will be well rewarded for examining these lives from a unique perspective.

[Andrew Coltrin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book about my people. I always felt an affinity for the likes of Swift, Yeats, Orwell and Bruce Chatwin. I also got a kick out of the chapter on Andy Warhol especially because I remember overhearing a news broadcast about him when I was little and being confused, thinking that somehow the story was about myself. Talk about identity diffusion... and the fact that I didn't realize other people might be called Andy as well. This just might be why I decided to go by Andrew as soon as I realized that was an option.