Genius: History of an Idea

by Penelope Murray (Editor)

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.

Genres: Nonfiction

248 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1989

About the author

Penelope Murray read Classics at Newnham College, Cambridge, where she also took her Ph.D. She held Research Fellowships at King's College London and St. Anne's College, Oxford, before becoming a founder member of the Department of Classics at the University of Warwick. She was promoted to a Senior Lectureship in 1998, but has recently taken early retirement to have more time to write. She works on early Greek poetry and poetics, on philosophical responses to Athenian song-culture, especially the views of Plato, and on ancient literary criticism. She is also interested in the ways in which approaches to literature in the Westen tradition have been shaped by the classical inheritance. She has written extensively on these subjects, including articles on the Muses and on ancient conceptions of imagination and inspiration. Her books include Genius: the History of an Idea (Blackwell 1989); Plato on Poetry (Cambridge 1996); Classical Literary Criticism (Penguin 2000); Music and the Muses: the Culture of Mousike in the Classical Athenian City, co-edited with Peter Wilson (Oxford 2004).Current projects include A Companion to Ancient Aestheticsfor Wiley Blackwell, co-edited with Pierre Destree, and a book on the Muses for the Routledge Gods and Heroes of the Ancient World series.

Reviews

[Kinda]

الكتاب بالنسبة لي كان متاهةَ في الشعراء والرسامين والنحاتين و أعمالهم الشعرية و الفنية , في الفلاسفة و النقاد و العلماء وعلم الجمال , في الآلهة والميثولوجيا . و العصر الرومانسي
التي لا أعرف عنها الكثير و بعضها خارج دائرة اهتماماتي القرائية عادةَ .. ولكن لا أستطيع إلا أن أنوه بالمترجم الذي تفانى في تفسير بعض تلك الطلاسم .
وصدق المترجم عندما قال حول الكتاب .. هو بحتاج إلى صبر في قراءته كما أحتاج مني إلى صبر طويل في ترجمته
فصبرت حتى الصفحة 165 من الكتاب من أصل 330 .
واعتذر ممن نصحني به .
مع احترامي

[Ahmed Nada · Rating 1 out of 5]

بالنسبة لى كتاب لايمت للعبقرية بصلة

[Elena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Last 2 chapters hit a little TOO hard 😃🤚

[Gamal soliman · Rating 3 out of 5]

بحوث مختلفه عن تاريخ تطور العبقرية وماهيتها
وتعريفى لهذا المصطلح الكبير هو أن العبقرية مزيج بين العطاء الالهى والتطوير الانسانى

[Tony Scaletta · Rating 2 out of 5]

كتاب تاريخي بحت، لم أجد فيه فائدة حقيقية بالنسبة لي في الوقت الحالي، توقفت بعد الفصل الاول

[Scientia · Rating 2 out of 5]

هذا الكتاب كان "out of my league"
بصراحة، غير أنني استمتعت نوعا ما بآخر فصل فيه