May 292010
 

Suddenly everything makes sense. Read this BBC piece on art and schizophrenia.

On an autobiographical note: In Paris, Christmas 1969, I saw Salvador Dali emerge from a limo with a lovely young woman in a leopard skin coat (leopard or ocelot–some patchy feral cat). Ask me what I was doing in Paris. Getting into trouble mostly. Also taking acting and movement lessons from an aged Javanese temple dancer named Madame Jodjana.

Ah, more information than you need.

dg

  7 Responses to “Schizophrenia & Creativity”

  1. I’ve always suspected this.

    Does writing cause us to become schizophrenic, or do we write because we’re schizophrenic? I need an answer!

    • I don’t think there’s a cause and effect–it’s a symbiosis.

      • This is my thought. The world is schizophrenic — there is plenty of evidence to support it — and writers/schizophrenics (if there’s a distinction here) are more sensitive to this fact. But this means that writers/schizophrenics are, in fact, normal. They’re more in tune.

        • This article was absolutely fascinating. The other night while I held severe pressure on my patient’s radial artery to prevent her exsanguination, I told her about this article (she was a psychologist, so I thought she would find it both interesting and distracting – I was causing her quite a bit of pain). She nodded her head, in wise agreement with the theory. She and her lover had the same first name – Merle – and looked so similar it was frightening.

          This is what happens when writers attempt to work regular jobs.

  2. Very strange. There is nary a trace of the mysterious Madame Jodgana on the internet, except for this tantalizing mention. Could she be a figment of someone’s imagination?

    • The spelling has been bothering me all day (packets, too). I think it was Jodjana. But I doubt there would be much on the web. She was very old then and lived in a “pavilion” at 55 Mouse Street (although in French). But I didn’t make this up. 🙂

  3. Hmmm, does VCFA have skunk works as well, or do they just refer to it as “workshop?”

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