Status Updates From Divine Fury: A History of G...

I like that Darrin McMahon is returning to kind of a thematic history, as opposed to a history of events, which, in this case, would be the history of tracing the true nature of genius. It’s so fascinating how, in the end of this chapter, we are back to square one, at this notion that genius may be something of a “daemon” rather than a matter of heredity. All that hard work, dashed in a matter of paragraphs!

We’ve returned to documenting the history of the *concept* of genius, which is much more interesting in my opinion than the previous chapter which was kind of a detail of various figures & events. I liked that the “Romantic Genius” chapter focused on just a few geniuses rather than the numerous geniuses of Chapter 3, the Genius of the Moderns.

There’s too much happening! Lol.

So far the most pivotal part of this section has been the translator Marsilio Ficino who was tasked by Cosimo de Medici to translate the works of Plato for a contemporary Latin/Italian audience. That’s been the biggest “ding-ding-ding!” moment for me lol. Now the Enlightenment is having a field day with it, and there’s just a lot going on!

Midway through the first chapter (due tomorrow in mini-book club with Michael), and McMahon is already crafting an elegant synthesis of an argument, blending poets & philosophers, nature vs. nurture, as evidence to explain the origins of the Western “genius.” I am eager to see where his book takes us!

I'm reading this book with Michael as a sort of mini-book club. Today we're tasked with reading the Introduction (pages xi to xxii). So far it's really neat. I like how Darrin M. McMahon talks about how the conception of "genius" came about from our inherent need to fabricate idols, and the conception of "genius" itself has evolved over time. I'm excited to read this book as the reviews say it's very underrated!