What makes a genius? Pushed to define it, we might say it’s a combination of extraordinary talent and drive, often accompanied by a dash of eccentricity or madness. Ultimately, the designation is conferred by hype; it’s essentially an offshoot of celebrity, which is why, as journalist Helen Lewis notes in her new book. “A genius needs a story as well as achievements”. Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso all made pioneering breakthroughs in their respective fields while living unconventional lives that later became the stuff of legend.
Lewis wants us to look at these figures in a more clear-eyed way, and see them as the selfish characters they often were. The lustre of genius, she observes, can provide cover for a multitude of sins: “alcoholism, family abandonment, unfaithfulness, abuse, weirdness, failure to take responsibility”. Since others invariably have to pick up the slack, this amounts to a form of exploitation. Reflecting on Leo Tolstoy’s treatment of his wife, Sophia Tolstaya, over the course of their 48-year marriage, Lewis concludes that the Russian novelist “was a genius, and a parasite”.
