Churchill's Black Dog

This collection of essays concerns the subject of creativity. What internal forces impel men and women to devote so much time and energy to creative invention, whether in the arts, the sciences, or other fields? Storr weighs and tests Freud's theory that creativity is the result of dissatisfaction. In one of the essays he concludes that Churchill's courage and energy can ultimately be attributed to his depressive personality. In another, he indentifies the search for a sense of identity which pervades the work of Kafka as a failure to grow out of the sense of helplessness experienced by infants. The author also wrote "Music and the Mind".