In 1976, Julian Jaynes proposed that the language of poetry and prophecy originated in the right, "god-side" of the brain. Current neuroscientific evidence confirms the role of the right hemisphere in poetry, a sensed presence, and paranormal claims as well as in mental imbalance. Left-hemispheric dominance for language is the norm. An atypically enhanced right hemisphere, whether attained through genetic predisposition, left-hemispheric damage, epilepsy, childhood or later traumas, can create hypersensitivities along with special skills. Dissociative "Others" may arise unbidden or be coaxed out through occult practices. Based on nearly twenty years of scientific and literary research, this book enters the atypical minds of poetic geniuses -- Blake, Keats, Hugo, Rilke, Yeats, Merrill, Plath and Hughes -- by way of the visible signs in their lives, beliefs, and shared practices.
Industry Reviews
"Carole Brooks Platt's creative synthesis of neuroscience and the humanities offers fascinating brain/mind explorations of a number of poetic geniuses. This groundbreaking interdisciplinary work heralds a paradigm shift in literary analysis." -- Allan N. Schore, PhD, University of California at Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine "Childhood trauma, paranormal experiences, and the drive to write verse: why do these three things cluster together in the biographies of so many great poets? Drawing upon recent neuroscientific research plus anecdotal evidence from the lives of Yeats, Hugo, Merrill, Plath, Hughes, and others, Carole Brooks Platt argues convincingly for a link to the brain's right hemisphere. In an era of overspecialization, Platt is a rarity: a brilliant generalist, able to see patterns connecting topics as diverse as shamanism, seances, and psychotherapy. One of the poets under study here, Keats, famously compared the act of reading Chapman's Homer to discovering a new planet, and I think the same can be said of reading Platt. She leaves us open-mouthed with wonder in a world we thought we knew." -- Julie Kane, PhD, Professor of English at Northwestern State University; former Fulbright Scholar and Louisiana Poet Laureate 'Carole Brooks Platt has written an extremely interesting book... Her research also highlights the neuroscience behind many of the manifestations of the poetic urge, the urge to sing rather than talk, as it were... This book is dealing with a universally serious subject... it is an enormously stimulating book.' -- Garry Kennard Interalia Magazine "In Their Right Minds is a cogent and lucid argument for the origin of creativity in the brain... The book offers a fascinating account about how the brain works in terms of inspiration: for some the fine line between transcendence, dreams, and wakefulness, the blurring between oneself and a literary creation... I'm not exaggerating by saying this is one of the most remarkable books I've recently read." -- Gregory F. Taque ASEBL Journal "Platt neatly weaves a powerful landscape of human beings who call on the 'gods', experience strokes, suffer schizophrenia, injury to the brain, are shamans, mystics or mediums, poets, writers and artists; placing them all in relationship to the brain in such a way that we are left breathless by the work. Platt's ability to present scientific evidence, scholarship and analysis in a down to earth easy to read way is one of the strengths of this book." -- Jade Rosina McCutcheon Consciousness, Literature and the Arts, Vol. 17 (2)
