What is genius?
source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/nov/24/improbable-research-genius-marc-abrahams
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- slagface
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Psychologists still grind away (sometimes at each other) at explaining what genius is, and where it comes from.
JCM Garnett, in a study called General Ability, Cleverness and Purpose, offered a formula for genius. Measure a person's general ability; then measure their cleverness, then square both numbers and add them together, then take the square root. Genius.
James G Kiernan wrote a monograph called Is Genius a Sport, a Neurosis, or a Child Potentiality Developed? Terman and Chase tell us that "Kiernan, after a description of the ability of various men of genius, arrives at the conclusion that genius is not a sport nor a neurosis".
A book by Albert Mordell explains that "the literary genius is one who has experienced a repression, drawn certain conclusions from it, and expressed what society does", and that "by making an outlet for their repressions in imaginative literature Rousseau, Goethe and many others have saved themselves from insanity".
JCM Garnett, in a study called General Ability, Cleverness and Purpose, offered a formula for genius. Measure a person's general ability; then measure their cleverness, then square both numbers and add them together, then take the square root. Genius.
James G Kiernan wrote a monograph called Is Genius a Sport, a Neurosis, or a Child Potentiality Developed? Terman and Chase tell us that "Kiernan, after a description of the ability of various men of genius, arrives at the conclusion that genius is not a sport nor a neurosis".
A book by Albert Mordell explains that "the literary genius is one who has experienced a repression, drawn certain conclusions from it, and expressed what society does", and that "by making an outlet for their repressions in imaginative literature Rousseau, Goethe and many others have saved themselves from insanity".
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Caite_Bonham
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I want to learn more about Albert Mordell.who wrote so much about literary figures, but I can't find anything about this writer himself. If it is true what he says
about "the literary genius" as quoted above I need to find an autobiography or a biography of Mordell, so I can compare ideas. Can anyone who has found the
book--Literature of Ecstasy-- fascinating give me information about the life of
Albert Mordell ? e-mail caitedixbonham@hotmail.com - 9 months ago
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Caite_Bonham
