He’s not a genius, he’s a very naughty boy!
Kierkegaard said, “Geniuses are like thunderstorms. They go against the wind, terrify people, cleanse the air.”
Schopenhauer had a different take: “Talent hits the target. Genius hits the target others can’t see.”
For the ancients, genius was a spirit that descended on favoured individuals. So when did we decide that genius was not so much an activity, but more of a qualification, a status which we bestow on certain individuals? When Helen Lewis talks about the genius ‘myth’ it is this aspect which she is quibbling with. Not the achievements, but the way in which we fetishise the individuals we choose to put up on the pedestal.
The Genius Myth pulls off the trick of opening up a genuinely fascinating enquiry and being hugely entertaining and laugh out loud funny at the same time.
We were delighted to return to the Owl Bookshop in Kentish Town to record this Books Podcast in front of a live audience.
Helen Lewis – Jonathan Cape – £12.99
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