Darlings, Is There A Link Between Literature And Psychosis??????

Guess I still need to muse on "The Marriage Plot," darlings, and one thing it has made me question is--does the creation of so-called "great" (which means often generally inaccessible) works constitute psychosis, on the part of their creators??????
Eugenides' work certainly got me to thinking about David Foster Wallace, but how about Joyce, with "Ulysses," Thomas Pynchon with his tomes, the complete oeuvre of J.D. Salinger; even such ponderous earlier works as "Pamela" or "Clarissa."

It makes one wonder, I can tell you. While Sylvia Plath is in a class by herself, both in terms of material and illness, the correlation of mental illness to the creative process has never been brought to light more recently than in my reading of Jeffrey Eugenides' novel. And, even as I begin "Moby-Dick," I am forced to wonder--is Ahab's obsession his own, or does it represent some part of Melville, who had a questionable history of struggling with homosexuality (still debated) and whose son, Malcom, ended his own life by shooting himself. He is no stranger to mental illness.

So many people say artists are crazy, and, Lord knows, I may not be as tightly wound, as say, a suburban soccer mom, who, while mainstream, is nevertheless crazy, to some degree, in her own right. You could go on to beg the question--does the totally sane, rational person, exist????? Probably not, and if so, would be so devoid of humanity it would be frightening. Not that clinical depression, of the kind suffered by David Foster Wallace, is not (just look at some footage of him; the guy looks genuinely dead while alive!!!!) frightening, but, if he had not been such, would he, or could he, have produced as brilliant a work as "Infinite Jest." I am not so sure.

Fame and genius both come with their price, but don't always go together. Based on what I have read, I would say geniuses pay the higher price--their souls produce masterworks at the expense of the psychological blood drained from them in order to produce it.

So, girls, the next time you find yourself wishing you were a genius, be very careful. It could be too high a price for my darlings to pay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!