1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910254789803321

Titolo

Genealogies of Genius / / edited by Joyce E. Chaplin, Darrin M. McMahon

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York : , : Palgrave Macmillan US : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2016

ISBN

1-137-49767-X

Edizione

[1st ed. 2016.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (194 p.)

Collana

Palgrave Studies in Cultural and Intellectual History

Disciplina

500

Soggetti

World history

Civilization—History

History, Modern

Social history

Intellectual life—History

World History, Global and Transnational History

Cultural History

Modern History

Social History

Intellectual Studies

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Includes index.

Nota di contenuto

Cover; Title Page; Copyright Page; Table of Contents; List of Figures; 1 Introduction; 2 The Problem of Genius in the Age of Slavery; 3 Genius versus Democracy: Excellence and Singularity in Postrevolutionary France; 4 Equality, Inequality, and Difference: Genius as Problem and Possibility in American Political/Scientific Discourse; 5 Genius and Obsession: Do You Have to Be Mad to Be Smart?; 6 Inspiration to Perspiration: Francis Galton's Hereditary Genius in Victorian Context; 7 "Genius Must Do the Scullery Work of the World": New Women, Feminists, and Genius, circa 1880-1920

8 The Cult of the Genius in Germany and Austria at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century9 Cultivating Genius in a Bolshevik Country; 10 Insight in the Age of Automation; 11 Genius and Evil; List of Contributors; Index



Sommario/riassunto

The essays in this volume seek to examine the uses to which concepts of genius have been put in different cultures and times. Collectively, they are designed to make two new statements. First, seen in historical and comparative perspective, genius is not a natural fact and universal human constant that has been only recently identified by modern science, but instead a categorical mode of assessing human ability and merit. Second, as a concept with specific definitions and resonances, genius has performed specific cultural work within each of the societies in which it had a historical presence.