Tortured youths: how childhood misery often makes for genius

Greatness. Genius. Can you bottle it? Is there a formula? Inspired by his Radio 4 series Great Lives, Matthew Parris delves into the childhood background of some big names to see whether there are common denominators, and rather gives the game away in the title, Fracture: Stories of How Great Lives Take Root in Trauma.

He zig-zags between the territories of greatness and genius in his choice of mini-biographies, and slightly blurs the two concepts. Of course there’s a bit of difference between greatness and genius. I wouldn’t dispute that Edith Piaf was a great performer or that Coco Chanel was a great designer — but genius? That can only apply to, say, Marie Curie with her two Nobel prizes.

The roll-call of celebs here invites some debate as to their merits. I admire Louise Bourgeois’s work, but it’s never made my jaw drop — although the story of her mother keeping a pile of saucers next to the dinner table so that the temperamental father would have something cheap to smash if he had a tantrum pretty much justifies her inclusion.