Could we all be creative 'geniuses' if we had more time?
On the inequality of time and an appreciation of the forgotten women who didn't have enough of it. (And learning about Eileen, George Orwell's wife in Anna Funder's Wifedom)
I don’t believe there is really such thing as a genius, rather, I like to think there are those who have the time to learn, to study, to think expansively and creatively and practice their craft. In this idealised vision of the world, every one of us could be a genius if we were given the opportunity, or had the time to make the opportunity for ourselves.
This theory is mainly driven by my aversion to the idolisation of figures in artistic history who are, more often that not, cis men. I find the idea of male genius deeply uncomfortable. So rarely are women awarded this label. (Should we blame 16th century Spanish physiologist Juan Huarte de San Juan who claimed men were biologically more intelligent than women?)
There is another inequality that underpins this all this, which is time. Those who have it, and those who don’t. I am in a financial position where I’m able to pay for a cleaner to help clean the flat every couple of weeks, which buys me a couple of hours of time with which I could, in theory, work on creative projects, or simply rest. That is a privilege. Those who have the money to pay for house keepers, nannies, cooks, assistants… aren’t they also just buying back time for themselves?
So I wonder if the people who endlessly create, who get to the top of their artistic game, who are heralded as geniuses, is it partly because they just have the time?
I was talking about this with a friend the other day. (We had both just been to see the Leigh Bowery exhibition at the Tate – some precious time we had taken to spend together on something creative.) He recommended I read Wifedom by Anna Funder, a part-memoir, part-history of Eileen O’Shaughnessy, George Orwell’s wife. A recommendation I’m passing onto you.
I’ve only ever read one of Orwell’s works, 1984. But even before reading that book I knew about him; I knew the meaning of Orwellian, the symbolism behind Animal’s Farm, and that he was a pioneering gonzo-style journalist. I knew that he held the title and mystery of someone who was seen to be a “genius” in the literary world.
But I didn’t know that he had a wife, nor that she was fiercely intelligent and a brilliant writer, that she organised Orwell’s admin, relationship with publishers, even typed up his work for him. I didn’t know that she was also there in Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War, held a pivotal role in the Independent Labour Party’s fight against fascism, and that she was instrumental in helping Orwell escape Spain.
You wouldn’t know, because Orwell hardly mentions her. She is merely his “wife” who appears fleetingly in his writing from time to time.
I also didn’t know that as a student she wrote a poem entitled The End of the World, 1984 – a year before she met the man who would become her husband.
A key issue underpinning the book is about time and who gets to access it. At the very basic level, Orwell – and so many other of these men praised for their creative work – didn’t have to use up their time to cook, to clean, to organise their administrative lives because often a woman was there to do that (unpaid) labour for them. That’s a lot of time available to spend on creative and artistic pursuits.
As Funder writes, “time is valuable, because it is finite.” The lack of it makes it precious, and so often open to exploitation.
I wrote back in February (incidentally I haven’t written more frequently due to the lack of time) about doing different things and not being creative “full time”. So I’ve been trying to think about how I can best spend my hours and days, how much I can dedicate to resting, to being lazy, and also to being creative. It’s a difficult balance; it sometimes works, sometimes doesn’t. But it makes me appreciate it more, and especially those who give their time so another can create, so another can find their genius.
Blue notes
In Naomi in Blue world, I’m excited to say I’m returning to Mexico for a gig on 24 July! Details tba.
In the meantime I’m writing and recording, working towards something that might be an album.
Please keep listening, reading and supporting. It is very much appreciated.