hellocentral

Depression and Manic Depression have played a key role in the lives of many of the most famous and important artists in American Literature. From Edna St Vincent-Millay, to Sylvia Plath, F. Scott Fitzgerald, on to Hemingway, Poe and others. It has often been speculated and theorized that the high propensity of the mental instability among the creative is more than a coincidence, that, in fact, the illness itself may be a lending factor to a portion of that drive, of that creativity, that makes them leave such an lasting impression on the surrounding society and culture. In the following paper I will illustrate this propensity towards mental illness, highlighting portions of prose, of poetry; quotes, and more. It is not my goal to establish empirically the connection, but merely to highlight the possibility, examine its function in art and the effect such a visceral emotion in literature and art has had on the evolution and development of art and its role in society.