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Models of creativity abroad: migrants, strangers and travellers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Feiwel Kupferberg
Affiliation:
University of Aalborg, (Aalborg).
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Abstract

Migration, the role of the stranger and travelling are all creativity-enhancing although for different reasons. The migrant model verifies Koestler's hypothesis that new ideas often arise out of combinations of separate frames of thinking. Simmel's theory of the stranger emphasizes the increased objectivity of limited commitments. Rudwick's recently suggested model of liminal experience might help us explain why the seemingly purposeless activity of travelling might also stimulate creativity.

L'émigration, le statut d'étranger, le voyage sont des facteurs de création littéraire. Le modèle de l'émigration vérifie l'hypothèse de Koestler selon laquelle les idées nouvelles naissent souvent de la rencontre de plusieurs cadres de pensée. Simmel insistait sur le gain d'objectivité du regard de l'étranger soumis à peu d'engagements. Plus récemment, Rudwick suggère que le choc du premier regard peut expliquer pourquoi le voyage, apparemment sans propos précis, peut stimuler la créativité.

Auswanderung, Stellung des Ausländers, Reisen zählen zu den Elementen der literarischen Schöpfung Das Modell der Auswanderung wird mit der Hypothese Koesders konfrontiert, die besagt, daß neue Ideen häufig durch die Begegnung mehrerer Gedankengebäude entstehen. Simmel betonte, daß der Blick des Ausländers aufgrund seiner wenigen Verpflichtungen an Objektivität gewinnt. Vor kurzem legte Rudwick nahe, daß der Schock des erstmaligen Betrachtens erkläten könnte, weshalb die Reise, scheinbar unbeabsichtigt, die Kreativität fördert.

Type
Note Critique
Copyright
Copyright © Archives Européenes de Sociology 1998

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