THE PORTRAIT OF A GENIUS

About the Book

Geniuses are few and far between. Most of them will have honors and prizes showered upon them. But there will be exceptions, numerous exceptions: We don’t know how many because they never make it; they fall by the wayside. They believe themselves to be alone in a hostile world, unable to adapt, unable to bring their ideas to fruition. They detest their inferiors and detest even more their superiors. One such genius, a historian with acute observations about the past and the future, was immortalized by Ibsen in his play Hedda Gabler. The Portrait of a Genius tells a similar story. Dramatis personae are the following: Helen Gascoigne, young, beautiful, uncompromising; Leslie Brock, the dean of the faculty who wants to bed her; George Turner, Helen’s devoted husband, a scientist not burdened with great leaps of imagination; Esmund, the reckless genius who invents an entirely new kind of computer; and finally, Rosalind, girlfriend and admirer of Esmund.

About the Author

Laszlo Solymar was born and educated in Hungary. In the aftermath of the Hungarian Revolution, he escaped to England. He joined the University of Oxford in 1966 where he is now an emeritus professor. During his career, he had visiting professorships at the Universities of Paris, Copenhagen, Osnabruck, Berlin, Madrid, and Budapest.