Kafka, Silvia Plath, Alejandra Pizarnik, David Foster Wallace, Cesare Pavese, Virginia Woolf, Alfonsina Storni, Gabriel Ferrater, Leopoldo María Panero, Edgar Allan Poe, Fernando Pessoa... the list of tormented writers who struggled with mental health issues, suffered from depression or addiction, took their own lives or spent part of their lives in psychiatric hospitals. Madness and Literature is a book in which psychiatrist Rafael Manrique reflects on the relationship between mental imbalance and literary genius. At the same time, he seeks to dismantle some of the clichés that are repeatedly used when addressing the link between creative talent and madness in the field of literature. Is it a myth? Is there any truth to it? What is madness? Do creative people have distinct personality traits? Are those who think, feel, see, or live in an unusual way crazy? Do creativity and madness go hand in hand?
