Schizophrenia and Philosophy

I have recently had an article published in an academic journal in the UK. The journal is called 'Consciousness Literature and the Arts', and the article explores the life and work of the ballet dancer Nijinsky who suffered from schizophrenia, and is entitled 'Nijinsky: Ballet, Schizophrenic Consciousness and Philosophy'. In particular it examines a diary he kept while he was entering into his first episode. This is interesting for me as I have had my own diary published through Chipmunkapublishing, also in the UK. My diary, 'Diary of a Schizophrenic' was kept in 1998 when I also experienced an episode. What is similar about both these diaries is that they both have detailed philosophical content. I was about to enter my honours year at university and was to write my thesis on Wittgenstein, and I mention him numerous times in the diary. Nijinsky was Reading Nietzsche and Schopenhauer and writes about them in his diary. What makes this all the more interesting for me is that I am now doing a PhD in Philosophy on schizophrenia. I have used my experiences to gain insight into the condition which I am utilising in my work on schizophrenia at a university level. I have also given a number of papers at academic conferences on my research. I have given a paper on Wittgenstein and schizophrenia, Heidegger and schizophrenia, and Immanuel Kant and schizophrenia, amongst others. I have used their ideas to interpret what schizophrenia may be.

I am hoping with my background and my academic training I can work to progress the debate about schizophrenia and help to diminish some of the stigma that surrounds the condition.

Apollinaire

Guillaume Apollinaire was a poet who led, one might say, a very adventurous life. Born Gulielmo de Kostrowitzky, he later changed his name in order to further his literary career. Indeed the name Apollinaire, with its resonances with the Greek god Apollo, strongly draws one to his oeuvre.

Apollinaire spent a period of time growing up near a gambling resort, and this may have influenced his later forays into the world of Parisian literature. He was to develop an important friendship with Picasso, and it was during this time that Apollinaire was to encounter his most famous scandal.

Apollinaire had steadily been gaining a reputation as a fine and original poet, and wrote on art and artists for a number of journals. His interest in art was almost his undoing. He had employed a secretary to help with his literary projects. This man turned out to be an art thief. He gave two statues to Picasso, who bought them unknowing of their origin. They had in fact been stolen from the Louvre.

Co-incidentally, and tragically, a few years after this incident, a separate theft took place at the Louvre. On this different occasion someone had stolen the Mona Lisa. As one could imagine, it was quite a scandal.

It came to the attention of the authorities that Apollinaire had recently been associated with objects de art stolen from the Louvre. Apollinaire was subsequently arrested and interrogated in relation to the Mona Lisa theft. It become clear that Apollinaire was no thief, and after informing the police of the identity of his secretary, he was released.

The scandal was however very large. Apollinaire was one of only a few people in France to be arrested for the crime, and his name was dragged through the press around the country, and indeed around the world. It was to have quite an impact on Apollinaire, and in many ways established his broader fame as a poet.

But it was to leave a deep scar on his life, and even after he was acquitted, people still were quite accusative and derisive of him. Sometimes the price of fame can indeed be high.

Odilon Redon

The French artist Odilon Redon has always fascinated me. His oeuvre can be divided into two distinct periods - the earlier Noirs, and the latter pastels that gave colour to his haunting images. The Noirs, images in distinctive black and white, plumbed the depths of Redon's imagination. Many of them were indeed unusual, and expressed some deep and irrational part of Redon's mind. The latter pastels, including the famous series depicting Pegasus, displayed a distinctive dream-like quality. Redon often spoke of the indeterminacy that characterised these images and his art more generally, and these latter pastels do indeed displayed such dreamy vagueness.

Redon's art is loosely categorised under the banner of 'Symbolism'. It is a movement that is inclusive of Rimbaud, Verlaine, Baudelaire and Mallarme. In fact Redon was to foster a significant friendship with Mallarme. Another friendship that was also to be important for Redon was that with Joris-Karl Huysmans. It was Huysmans that included a passage on Redon in his decadent novel 'A Rebours'. A Rebours was to become a cult classic in Parisian culture of the time, and its success catapulted Redon into fame.

The word to describe Redon's oeuvre is 'oneiric'; meaning dream-like. Redon followed his imagination, and it lead him to create images that one may find in the somnambulistic realms we tread through in our nocturnal mental wanderings (dreams).