Buzz
“Have I gone mad?” asked the Mad Hatter. “I’m afraid so,” replied Alice. “You’re entirely bonkers. But I’ll tell you a secret. All the best people are.”
As we’ve mentioned before, creative individuals are quite unique. They often exhibit schizotypal traits, which can manifest in various ways, such as unusual sensory experiences, a tendency for solitude, or mild paranoia. Not every genius suffers from a personality disorder, of course. However, this is one piece of the puzzle that helps explain why creative minds can appear eccentric. The full explanation is far more intricate.
10. Demosthenes (384–322 B.C.)
The Athenian statesman Demosthenes, hailed as the greatest orator of ancient Greece, used his remarkable speaking talents to challenge the tyrannical reigns of Philip of Macedon and his son, Alexander the Great. In Plutarch’s *Parallel Lives*, it is noted that Demosthenes was inspired to pursue oratory after hearing the lawyer Callistratus deliver a brilliant speech in court. The power of Callistratus’s argument ignited a passion in Demosthenes to follow the same path.
However, Demosthenes faced significant obstacles in his early career. According to Plutarch, he suffered from “a certain weakness of voice, indistinctness of speech, and shortness of breath, which hindered the clarity of his words and caused his sentences to break apart.” His first attempts at public speaking were met with mockery, but Demosthenes was determined to overcome these challenges and worked tirelessly to improve his delivery, even practicing by speaking with his mouth full of pebbles.
In addition to his vocal struggles, Demosthenes also trained himself to stay focused. He built a secret underground study where he could dedicate himself fully to his work for two or three months at a time. To prevent himself from leaving and engaging in distractions, he went to the extreme measure of shaving half his head of hair. The absurdity of this look made him too self-conscious to show his face in public, thus forcing him to stay in his study and continue his intensive practice.
9. James Joyce (1882–1941)
If you found yourself bewildered by the near-impossible-to-translate Finnegan’s Wake, it helps to consider the circumstances under which it was penned. Its creator, James Joyce, was almost completely blind.
At just six years old, Joyce received his first pair of eyeglasses. By the age of 25, he had been diagnosed with iritis, a painful condition that could cause blindness due to inflammation of the iris. Throughout his life, Joyce endured multiple unsuccessful surgeries to address the issues with his eyes.
Joyce’s unconventional writing habits were a response to these challenges, rather than mere eccentricities. His sister Eileen recalled that Joyce would often write while lying on his stomach at night, donning a white coat. She later realized the coat served to reflect light onto the paper, aiding his weakened vision.
It was in this way that Joyce wrote Finnegan’s Wake, using a large blue pencil. That’s right: Joyce didn’t use a typewriter. He prioritized the quality of his writing over speed. When asked how the progress on his novel Ulysses was coming along, Joyce replied that he had spent the whole day working. How much had he written? “Two sentences,” Joyce said. “I have the words already. What I am seeking is the perfect order of words in a sentence.”
8. Bobby Fischer (1943–2008)
Even those with no interest in chess know the name Bobby Fischer. Known as the American “Bad Boy of Chess,” he mesmerized his generation with his unmatched skill, becoming the youngest grandmaster in history at just 14 years old. Fischer went on to break the Soviet monopoly on chess by defeating Boris Spassky to win the 1972 World Chess Championship.
Deeply suspicious of Soviet cheating, Fischer supposedly had the fillings in his teeth removed to stop the Russians from sending secret messages through them. His eccentric behavior became apparent to the world during that 1972 match. He continually complained about his chair, the lighting, and the presence of TV cameras. A disagreement over the cameras and the game clock led Fischer to refuse to play the second game.
This wasn’t the first instance where Fischer’s petulant behavior led to a forfeited game. During a match against Samuel Reshevsky, the game had to be postponed until the next day because Reshevsky, an Orthodox Jew, would not play on the Sabbath. Fischer, claiming that he didn’t play in the mornings, allowed the game—and the match—to be forfeited by default. Ironically, Fischer would later adopt Saturday as his Sabbath and refuse to play on that day, resulting in his departure from a 1967 tournament while he was in the lead.
Fischer’s comeback from a 0–2 deficit to defeat Spassky in their subsequent championship match stood as a testament to his brilliance. He immediately donated $90,000 of his prize money to the Worldwide Church of God, a cult based in Pasadena, California, which he had joined. Like others in the church, he was drawn in by the predictions of its leader, Herbert W. Armstrong, who claimed that Jesus would return in 1975 after a nuclear war. Fischer spent the next several years in Pasadena, where he was once mistakenly arrested for a bank robbery, which led him to write a pamphlet titled “I Was Tortured in the Pasadena Jailhouse.”
In 1992, Fischer defied UN sanctions by playing a rematch against Spassky in Yugoslavia. His actions led to an indictment from the US government, and he spent his final years in exile. Shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks, Fischer jubilantly announced from the Philippines, “This is all wonderful news.”
7. Jack Kerouac (1922–1969)
While James Joyce’s meticulous writing habits didn’t lend themselves to the use of a typewriter, the same could not be said for American novelist and poet Jack Kerouac. In 1951, after compiling countless notes in his journals, Kerouac unleashed a surge of creativity that resulted in his iconic novel, On The Road. Kerouac didn’t want his creative flow interrupted by the need to reload the typewriter at the end of each page. So, he taped all the blank pages together into one continuous scroll, allowing him to type uninterrupted at a rapid pace.
It was unsurprising that Kerouac’s editor, Robert Giroux, was horrified when he first saw the manuscript. “Jack, you know you have to cut this up,” Giroux told him. “It has to be edited.” Kerouac, furious, stormed out of the room. It would take another six years before On The Road saw the light of day. The scroll was later displayed to large crowds in Kerouac’s hometown of Lowell, Massachusetts.
6. Victor Hugo (1802–1885)
While Demosthenes found focus by shaving half his head, the famous French novelist Victor Hugo achieved his by shedding his clothes. The author of monumental works such as *Les Misérables* came up with a foolproof strategy to meet the February 1831 deadline for *The Hunchback of Notre Dame*. He locked away all his formal attire and ordered his servants not to give him any clothes until he had completed the novel. He then stripped down and confined himself to his room.
However, the tale that Hugo wrote entirely in the nude is a myth. Instead, he wore a large gray shawl, which he had specifically purchased for the occasion. It reached all the way down to his toes and became his sole garment for the remainder of his self-imposed isolation. The strategy worked, and Hugo was able to finish *Hunchback* weeks ahead of schedule.
5. Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968)
French Surrealist Marcel Duchamp was already known for his unconventional artistic ideas, particularly his concept of “readymade” art—everyday objects transformed into art exhibits. One of these was titled “Fountain,” which was simply a urinal that Duchamp had purchased.
However, in his late twenties, Duchamp experienced a dramatic shift. At the height of his artistic success, he walked away from art altogether to dedicate himself to chess. To grasp the magnitude of this decision, author David Shenk suggests, “Imagine John F. Kennedy chucking politics in June 1960 in favor of billiards.”
Duchamp became so absorbed by chess that he spent his entire days either playing or solving chess puzzles. His friends were astounded by his obsession. “I play day and night,” Duchamp declared. “Nothing interests me more than to find the right move.” In Paris, his routine (when not engaged in a game) was to spend the evenings solving chess problems, then break at midnight for scrambled eggs at the Cafe Dome, before returning to his room to study until about four in the morning. “Everything around me takes the shape of the knight or the queen,” Duchamp said, “and the exterior world has no other interest for me other than its transformation into winning or losing positions.”
Despite marrying the young heiress Lydia Sarazin-Lavassor, Duchamp could not escape the all-consuming nature of his passion for chess. During their honeymoon, he devoted the entire week to studying chess problems, leaving Lydia feeling increasingly neglected. Eventually, she could take no more. One night, while Duchamp was finally asleep, she exacted revenge by gluing all the chess pieces to the board. Just three months later, their marriage ended in divorce.
4. Salvador Dali (1904–1989)
Salvador Dali, the Spanish surrealist painter, was notorious for boldly displaying his eccentricities to the world. Even as a student in Madrid, he attracted attention by growing his hair long, sporting sideburns, and wearing stockings and knee breeches.
In later years, Dali’s most distinctive feature became his extravagant mustache, which was long, waxed, and pointed upward to his eyes. He explained, “Since I don’t smoke, I decided to grow a mustache. It is better for the health. However, I always carried a jewel-studded cigarette case, in which, instead of tobacco, were carefully placed several mustaches, Adolphe Menjou-style. I offered them politely to my friends: ‘Mustache? Mustache? Mustache?’ Nobody dared to touch them. This was my test regarding the sacred aspect of mustaches.”
Occasionally, Dali would carry a small silver bell, which he would ring to draw attention to his mustache.
In addition to his iconic mustache, Dali was often seen in public wearing a flowing cape and carrying a walking stick. However, these were far less extraordinary compared to his outfit at a ball held in his honor. At this event, Dali wore a glass case containing a bra across his chest. At another occasion, the London International Surrealist Exhibition, Dali appeared in a diving suit, wielding a billiard cue, and accompanied by a pair of wolfhounds. He explained that his costume symbolized his desire to ‘plunge into the depths’ of the human psyche. He gave a lecture in the diving suit, but later had to be rescued from suffocating.
Dali’s eccentricity extended to his television appearances as well. During an interview with Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes, Dali repeatedly referred to himself in the third person. When asked which contemporary artists he admired, he responded, “First, Dali. After Dali, Picasso. After this, no others.”
3. Richard Wagner (1813–1883)
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Wagner, who thrived in the public eye, found peace in the companionship of his dogs, whom he cherished deeply. His two favorites, Russ and Koss, joined him on daily walks, with Russ eventually being laid to rest at Wagner’s gravesite. But his most adored dog was a King Charles spaniel named Pep, to whom Wagner confided his deepest thoughts.
Pep, who would instinctively react to Wagner's changing voice tones with jumping and barking, soon showed a deeper sensitivity. Wagner realized that Pep was attuned to the emotional nuances of music. The dog’s responses varied depending on the melody or musical phrase Wagner played or sang. For example, Pep’s tail would wag calmly when Wagner played in E-flat major, while he would spring to attention with excitement when Wagner played in E major.
Through Pep’s consistent reactions, Wagner learned to associate specific musical keys with particular moods and emotions in drama. He even enlisted Pep’s help in composing his next two operas, Tannhauser and Lohengrin. Pep had a special stool beside Wagner’s piano, and whenever Wagner faced difficulties with a passage, he would look to Pep for guidance and rewrite the music based on the dog’s responses.
With Pep’s assistance, Wagner achieved a unique effect in Tannhauser, where E-flat major conveyed holy love and salvation, while E major represented sensual love and decadence. In Lohengrin, not only were characters tied to specific musical keys, but also to particular instruments and themes, thanks to Pep’s influence.
2. Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922)
Regardless of whether he truly invented the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, born in Scotland, was undoubtedly a brilliant mind in many respects. His telephone was the result of years of work on hearing devices, a field Bell had delved into to assist his mother and wife, both of whom were deaf.
Bell’s grandfather had instilled in him the significance of speech as a defining human trait. Bell was especially fascinated by a talking automaton his grandfather took him to see. When air was forced through the machine’s windpipe, it produced a distinct “Mama” from its carefully designed lips. Bell thought to himself, “If vowel sounds can be made with electricity, then so can consonants, and so can clear speech.”
Inspired by the automaton, Bell attempted to replicate its speech on a live subject, his Skye terrier named Trouve. First, Bell trained the dog to growl steadily. Then, Bell would manipulate Trouve’s mouth and vocal cords to produce sounds. This led to crude utterances, much to the amusement of family visitors. Eventually, Bell’s “talking dog” could say, “Ow ah oo ga ma ma,” which, with a little imagination, was interpreted as: “How are you, grandmama?”
1. Henry Cavendish (1731–1810)
Henry Cavendish, an English chemist and physicist, is credited with discovering hydrogen, explaining the composition of water, and accurately determining the Earth’s density. Despite these groundbreaking achievements, he was known for his extreme shyness, to the point where it was described as 'bordering on disease.' His introversion was so intense that he preferred to let other scientists take credit for his discoveries rather than publish them himself.
Cavendish's discomfort in social situations was so severe that he would physically flee if anyone approached him. The only events he attended were dinners at the Royal Society, and guests were instructed to avoid approaching him or even making eye contact out of respect for his shyness. His anxiety was particularly exacerbated by female company, which caused him 'extreme distress.' As a result, Cavendish never married.
Cavendish’s household consisted of just a housemaid, and he had minimal interaction with her, communicating only through written notes. To further reduce the chances of encountering anyone, Cavendish had secret staircases installed in his home, enabling him to avoid using the main corridors and hallways.
+Friedrich von Schiller (1759–1805)
Friedrich von Schiller, a poet, playwright, and philosopher, is regarded as Germany’s foremost Romantic thinker. He is best known for writing the lyrics to the European anthem 'Ode to Joy,' which was later set to music by Ludwig van Beethoven. Schiller’s revolutionary ideas had a profound influence on future philosophers, particularly Friedrich Nietzsche.
A prolific writer in his own right, Schiller was also an avid promoter of other contemporary authors, leading to close friendships with some of the era’s most renowned literary figures. One such friend was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the author of Faust. On one occasion, Goethe visited Schiller’s home, but upon arriving when Schiller was out, he decided to wait by sitting at his friend's writing desk. It wasn’t long before a strange, overpowering odor reached Goethe’s nostrils.
The source of the 'horrible smell' was traced by Goethe to a drawer next to the desk. Upon opening it, he found to his surprise that the drawer was filled with rotting apples. Disoriented by the stench, Goethe staggered to the window to get some fresh air. Soon after, Frau Schiller entered and explained that her husband kept the decaying apples in the drawer because the smell was beneficial to him, and he couldn't work without it.
Schiller’s peculiar habit might have had a scientific basis. Modern studies have shown that different smells can significantly impact brain function. Schiller may have unknowingly discovered a scent that helped stimulate his creative process.
