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37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Erudition with Attitude, April 15, 2006
This is a companion volume to Intellectuals (first published in 1988) in which Johnson focuses on a number of prominent as well as diverse intellectuals who include Rousseau, Shelley, Ibsen, Brecht, and Sartre. He proceeds in the same manner in Creators with his focus on an equally diverse group whose members include Chaucer, Bach, Austen, Eliot, and in Chapter 14, Picasso and Disney. Most of those who have already read one or more of Johnson's other works probably disagree with several of his opinions but no one can (or at least should) question the scope and depth of his erudition. Of course, the appeal and value of this book will depend almost entirely on each reader's own interests but I presume to suggest that this book be read in its entirety because several lesser known people (A.W.N. Pugin and Viollet-le-Duc, for example) are far more interesting than I (at least) anticipated.
The title of the first chapter (i.e. "The Anatomy of Creative Courage") could well have served as the book's subtitle. Each of the 17 whom Johnson rigorously examines demonstrated throughout their lives and careers extraordinary courage when pursuing their visions despite all manner of barriers. "What can be said is that creation is always difficult. If it is worth doing at all, we can be sure it is hard to do. I cannot think of any instance in which it is accurate, let along fair, to use the word `facile.'" Johnson also suggests that "courage and creativity are linked, for all creation requires intellectual courage." Also when overcoming physical disabilities, as well as severe poverty, alienation, voluntary or involuntary isolation (often resulting in severe loneliness), and constant awareness of hardships which one's loved ones have been forced to share and endure. "All the same," Johnson concludes, "creation is a marvelous business, and people who create at the highest level lead a privileged life, however arduous and difficult it may be. An interesting life, too, full of peculiar aspects and strange satisfactions. That is the message of this book."
Please keep in mind that this volume does not consist of 17 mini-biographies, although there is a wealth of biographical information provided. Nor is it a definitive critical analysis of what each of the subjects created, although their major achievements are acknowledged. Nor is it a cultural history, although Johnson briefly but deftly correlates a number of cross-generational themes. Granted, he could well have devoted an additional chapter to each of several others such as Vermeer, Mozart, Richard Wagner, Caravaggio, Mary Cassatt, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Emily Dickinson. (He does briefly discuss them in the first chapter.) I think it is important to realize what this book is not so that it can be properly understood and appreciated for what it is: what an uncommonly intelligent, eloquent, and erudite historian has found most interesting and informative in the lives and careers of 17 creators. "Creativity, I believe, is inherent in all of us. We are the progeny of almighty God...He created the universe, and those who inhabit it; and in creating us, he made us in his own image, so that his personality and capacities, however feebly, are reflected in our minds, bodies, and immortal spirits. So we are, by our nature, creators as well...and [because ] we are all made in God's image, there is creativity in all of us, and the only problem is how to bring it out. A farmer is creative -- none more so -- and so is a shoemaker."
I presume to suggest, however, paraphrasing George Orwell, that all human beings are creative but some are more creative than others.
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An interesting tour of creators in various art forms and what their work required of them, April 13, 2006
There is a long line of books of lives and this is a quite interesting contribution to the genre. These kinds of books are not meant to be biographies as we know them today. This book has some points to make about the creative personality in its various manifestations over several centuries in many of the arts in the West. Yes, if you read a few dozen biographies you could get more in depth on each of the figures discussed here, but that would be a different project than Paul Johnson is after here.
The author wants us to see that the creative personality has certain tendencies, needs, and that society gains from this kind of individual even if there are also costs to those around him or her. There is also a vast range of personality. Some are healthy and vastly productive, others have a more restricted output, but still their contribution is large. Others have a toxic personality and then there is a full range in between. The real point here is to use these brief examinations of these creative artists to illustrate rather than to explain or provide some undergirding theory.
The chapters are arranged in a largely chronological order. This has some advantages in discussing artistic trends over time. Johnson includes authors and poets such as Chaucer, Shakespeare, Austen, Hugo, Twain, and Eliot, but Dickens, the Br?ntes, and many other writers are discussed along the way as well. There are visual artists and architects beginning with D?rer, Turner, Hokusai, Pugin, le Duc, Tiffany, Picasso, and Disney. He also includes fashion designers Balenciaga and Dior with quite convincing observations for their inclusion.
Bach is the only musician given a chapter heading, but many other musicians are discussed along with Bach in his chapter. That is really the way each chapter is constructed. Each artist is discussed in a larger context, which requires discussion of other artists. For example, in discussing Jane Austen, many other women who managed to become artists in the face of huge social pressure are discussed to provide a richer context for Austen.
The book opens with a discussion of the anatomy of creative courage. This theme of courage to create and the way that courage is manifested in the lives of each of these artists is the unifying theme of the book, but there are other threads that we follow as well. We learn about the role of families in the lives of these artists (variously important), their access to professional training (not as important as you might expect), what a sympathetic or hostile social environment does to creativity (might make producing more difficult, but does not stop the most determined), what social change does (destroyed most of Tiffany's work and makes us poorer, and forced Balenciaga into a lonely retirement), and the differences between fine and fashion art and how that change occurred.
The last chapter discusses creativity in science and the use of metaphor in creation.
I think this is a very interesting, entertaining, and useful read. It is not a biography of each artist and should not be judged as such. This book has a different purpose and I think meets that purpose well. If you are an expert on any of the creators you will certainly judge what Johnson should have included differently than the author. However, you would be thinking as a biographer rather than trying to make the points Johnson is trying to make as a historian.
I also enjoyed Johnson's many personal observations and the anecdotes from more modern times with creators he actually met and some that he knew.
Enjoy!
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19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Profiles of Individual Artistic Creators, Musicians and Writers, March 23, 2006
If you've never read about the work and lives of these creators, you will like this book better than I did. For the most part, Mr. Johnson provides superficial details and makes very general judgments. If you read a standard biography of any of these people, you'll be more satisfied than with this book. But this book may give you an overview to find out which people you want to read more about.
For me, the most interesting parts came in the descriptions of Chaucer, Durer, Bach, Cassatt and Wagner. Who knew that Wagner used to beg money from people so he could live in luxury? Otherwise, he apparently had trouble writing operas. The characterization of Chaucer's contributions to language is inspired and intriguing. The book is filled with other similar dribs and drabs of fascinating details from the lives of monumental creators in the arts.
If you want to learn about how to be a creator, look elsewhere. This book is primarily historical and biographical rather than focused on the psychology and methodology of creativity.
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