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Welcome to Celebrate Creativity - Episode 439 - An Uneasy Mind

Let me start with an example of my creative - if if that is what you wanna call it - approach to Gemini - I figured out what I wanted to say, my situation, and give Gemini a place to start with. I knew that Gustav Flaubert and Lord Byron lived approximately at the same time, but I was not exactly sure which came first chronologically. So I looked them up Gemini and got

Lord Byron was Born: January 22, 1788 and died April 19, 1824 - while

Well now I guess you could say that I'm speaking as me here I guess you could say that is true with me personally I may have the tendency to have a seizure but I haven't had a seizure for decades but then I can take well anticonvulsants and the medication's seem to have Gustave Flaubert was born about 30 years later on December 12, 1821 and died may 8, 1880. So chronologically, this episode and the one afterwards will be about Lord Byron. I then typed the following prompt into Gemini

I am doing a podcast where I am planning several episodes about writers who it is believed suffered from epilepsy - such as Edgar Allan Poe, Dostoyevsky - definitely - Agatha Christie - of course there are other notable figures who are believed to have suffered from epilepsy. From what I understand there is not definite proof that dickens had epilepsy, but he did take great care en describing the symptoms and actions of people with epilepsy. First - and it may require several episodes to cover all the writers - could you describe the role of epilepsy in the life of Lord Byron?

And Gemini replied - The role of epilepsy in the life of Lord Byron is a fascinating and often debated topic. While some historical accounts and figures (like Nietzsche) suggested he suffered from epilepsy, modern interpretations of the available evidence tend to be more nuanced, suggesting that if he experienced seizures, they were likely occasional convulsions rather than chronic epilepsy.

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Welcome to Celebrate Creativity - Episode 437 - Epilepsy and Famous Writers

Today, Celebrate Creativity is beginning a new series, one that peels back the layers on a topic rarely discussed in the hallowed halls of literature. We're going to talk about famous writers who lived with epilepsy.

Now I did not just randomly choose the topic of creativity and epilepsy. You see, as some of you may know, my family and I went to Washington DC when I was in the eighth grade, and saw Bob Dylan. The next day, I came back to my high school and had my first epileptic seizure while walking down the hall - I think I've said before, my dear mother always believed from that point on that Bob Dylan caused my seizure - his music may be powerful, but I doubt that it is that powerful. Anyway I spent several weeks at the University of Virginia Hospital, and was prescribed Dilantin - a drug that controlled my seizures for the most part. A few years later, the doctors changed my anticonvulsant medication to Depakote - a much newer drug that was ironically smuggled into the United States by a neurologist. It had been used with great success in Europe, and since I started taking Depakote, I have not had any seizures. No I don't wanna give anybody false hope and say that you might get the same results if you were in a similar situation, but I can say I know what it's like to go through years where I did not know if I would remain conscious or not - I didn’t particularly view epilepsy as a gift. So those experiences have led me to examine if creativity and epilepsy were related in various talented individuals from the past in this podcast. And to my surprise, there does seem to be some connection between creativity and epilepsy - this is still rather controversial. I found many great individuals who suffered from epilepsy - far more than I could deal with in a few episodes - so initially I am confining my exploration of individuals with epilepsy to only writers with a seizure disorder- I hope to get into some other areas - such as artists and musicians - in the future - but in this series, I am going to try and concentrate on writers although I know I'm gonna wander off into other disciplines now and then.

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Welcome to celebrate creativity - my name is George Bartley and this is episode 437 - the Second of a two part series - Poe’s Creativity - Part Two

Mr. Poe - you know I I'm very curious about your writing - and the effects you attempted to generate - Would you say that you were a stylist?

Indeed, Mr. Bartley, I would say that I am a stylist, and in the most deliberate and uncompromising sense of the word. Style, to me, is not a mere flourish or a decorative element to be draped over a story's frame. It is the very foundation of the work, the precise and calculated means by which a particular effect is achieved.

I am a stylist in my relentless pursuit of "Unity of Effect." I believe that a work of art, be it prose or poetry, must be a complete and coherent experience. Every word, every sentence, every rhythm and cadence is chosen not for its individual beauty, but for its contribution to the single, overarching mood I wish to evoke. When I write of a decaying mansion, the language itself must feel as if it is crumbling. When I write of a man's descent into madness, the very structure of the sentences must become a reflection of his unraveling mind.

My style is also a reflection of my belief in the power of sound and rhythm. I hold that the ear is as important as the eye in receiving a work of art. My poems, such as "The Raven," are meticulously crafted with assonance, alliteration, and internal rhyme, not as poetic tricks, but as a hypnotic drumbeat that lulls the reader into a state of profound melancholy. The repetition of "Nevermore" is not just a word; it is a tolling bell, a final, inescapable sound that echoes the narrator's despair.

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