Spanish journalist Rosa Montero has given us, as translated by Lindsey Ford, The Danger to Be Sane: Creativity and the Eccentric Mind, “(a) dazzling journey into the eccentric, troubled, and luminous minds that shaped literature” (publisher).
“Breaking down the forces that influence creativity, Montero proposes new ways of thinking about both the creative act, and what we consider ‘normal’.” Among the famous writers Montero examines are Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, Emily Dickinson, Marcel Proust, Doris Lessing, Franz Kafka, and Joseph Conrad.
Publishers Weekly: “…(S)he traces the prevalence of mental illness among writers, parses how socialization and neurological makeup influence creativity, and examines the addictive temperaments of artists. Montero’s theories are consistently intriguing…”
Richard Winters, Library Journal: “The text analyzes the perfect storm of factors required for productive creativity, citing childhood trauma, high constitutional energy, and a greater awareness of internal dissociation as key components. Montero challenges traditional concepts of normality, instead defining it as a mere statistical construct while exploring the biological roots of psychiatric disorders…The author discusses how creators use art as an essential evolutionary mechanism for survival and a means to relate to an often-chaotic world.”
Notably, The Danger to Be Sane also addresses her own anxiety and panic attacks. Kirkus Reviews: “Most extraordinary is the story from her own life…When she was 28 years old, she began to receive phone calls from a hysterical woman who claimed Montero had slept with her boyfriend. Try as she might, Montero had no recollection of this man and eventually was able to meet with the woman, whom she describes as a great beauty, and get her to desist. This was only the beginning of their relationship, though. Over the decades that followed, this same woman impersonated Montero in many outrageous situations, even autographing her books for unwitting readers and traveling to universities where Montero had been hired. The tale of this doppelganger she calls The Other continues to the present day, with a tantalizing P.S. included at the end of the book. This story alone is worth the price of admission.”
