The Grace of Great Things: Creativity and Innovation

Examines the nature of creativity, exposes the inefficiencies of universities and corporations, and attacks the intolerance of liberalism

Grudin stresses that creativity is heightened when tasks become emotional challenges. He views creativity as an offering to society--social in nature--rather than a solitary pursuit. The creative act demands openness, self-scrutiny and love of form and beauty, qualities that have ethical implications. Indeed, Grudin ( Time and the Art of Living ) asserts that creative people possess integrity, strength of character, a willingness to court insecurity and failure. While granting that democracy is probably friendlier to innovation than are other forms of society, he faults liberal intellectuals for their biases and blind-spots, e.g., an aversion to holistic thinking, pointing a finger also at the politics of scientific research, teachers who stifle creativity and, in contemporary poetry, "the puritanical prohibitions of modern free-verse style." Brimming with ideas, this exciting book forces us to consider the moral and psychological dimensions of creativity in a new light.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

According to Grudin (English, Univ. of Oregon), creativity is a radical act of freedom, a heroic process closely linked with beauty, integrity, power, and ethics. The author examines art, teaching, literature, philosophy, and related disciplines, looking at the process of innovation itself and using concise examples from the work of Plato, Rilke, F.L. Wright, etc. He argues that creative acts are not necessarily new but are most often the rediscovery of profound, ancient truths lost by societies in which liberals strive for the merely new and conservatives struggle to keep the status quo. A beautifully written book that is highly recommended.
- Terry McMaster, Utica Coll. of Syracuse Univ. Lib., N.Y.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.