Strong Imagination: Madness, Creativity and Human Nature

by Daniel Nettle

Overview

Madness is the central mystery of the human psyche. Our minds evolved to give us a faithful understanding of reality, to allow us to integrate into our communities, and to help us adapt our behavior to our environment. Yet in serious mental illness, the mind does exactly the opposite of these things. The sufferer builds castles of imaginative delusion, fails to adapt, and becomes a stranger among his own people. Yet mental illness is no marginal phenomenon: it is found in all societies and all historical epochs, and the genes that underlie it are quite common. Furthermore, the traits that identify the madman are found in attenuated form in normal thinking and feeling. The persistence of madness, then, is a terrible puzzle from both an evolutionary and a human point of view. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare suggested a link between madness and artistic creativity: 'The lunatic, the lover, and the poet', he wrote, 'Are of imagination all compact'. Recent studies have shown that there is indeed a connection. Rates of mental illness are hugely elevated in the families of poets, writers and artists, suggesting that the same genes, the same temperaments, and the same imaginative capacities are at work in insanity and in creative ability. Thus the reason madness continues to exist is that the traits behind it have psychological benefits as well as psychological costs. In Strong Imagination, Daniel Nettle explores the nature of mental illness, the biological mechanisms that underlie it, and its link to creative genius. He goes on to consider the place of both madness and creative imagination in the evolution of our species.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198507062
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	05/03/2001
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	8.76(w) x 5.80(h) x 0.73(d)

About the Author

Daniel Nettle studied psychology at Oxford, before completing his PhD in Anthropology at University College London. In 1996 he was elected a Junior Research Fellow at Merton College, Oxford. He has lectured in London, Oxford, Cambridge and Nigeria, and written widely across many areas of the human sciences. He is also active in the theatre. He lives in Oxford.

Table of Contents

Introduction1. From disease to difference and back again2. From Nature to Nurture and back again3. This taint of blood4. The storm-tossed soul5. The sleep of reason produces monsters6. Such tricks hath strong imagination7. The lunatic, the lover and the poet8. Civilization and its discontents9. Staying saneEpilogueFurther readingReferencesIndex

Editorial Reviews

"This fascinating, lucid book is surprisingly short, in view of the breadth and depth of information covered."—BMJ

"David Nettle has ... written a stimulating book which ... make[s] the very important point that a dimensional, rather than categorical, perspective is likely to be much more rewarding for psychiatry."—The London Times

From the Publisher

With a background in psychology and anthropology, Nettle ponders on why madness exists. He first investigates the different forms of madness and what is known about the brain mechanisms underlying them. He adopts Shakespeare's hypothesis that the madness of the lunatic and the creativity of the poet are woven of the same cloth, then explores implications of that for mental health, culture, and the self-image of the species. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR