Page 180 - COVID-19: The Great Reset

summer of 1665 after an outbreak, Newton went back to his family
home in Lincolnshire where he stayed for more than a year.

During this period of forced isolation described as annus mirabilis
(a “remarkable year”), he had an outpouring of creative energy
that formed the foundation for his theories of gravity and optics
and, in particular, the development of the inverse-square law of

gravitation (there was an apple tree beside the house and the idea
came to him as he compared the fall of an apple to the motion of
the orbital moon). [157]

A similar principle of creativity under duress applies to

literature and is at the origin of some of the most famous literary
works in the Western world. Scholars argue that the closure of
theatres in London forced by the plague of 1593 helped
Shakespeare turn to poetry. This is when he published “Venus

and Adonis”, a popular narrative poem in which the goddess
implores a kiss from a boy “to drive infection from the dangerous
year”. A few years later, at the beginning of the 17th century,
theatres in London were more often closed than open because of

the bubonic plague. An official rule stipulated that theatre
performances would have to be cancelled when the deaths
caused by the plague exceeded 30 people per week. In 1606,
Shakespeare was very prolific precisely because theatres were

closed by the epidemic and his troupe couldn’t play. In just one
year he wrote “King Lear”, “Macbeth” and “Antony and Cleopatra”.
[158] The Russian author Alexander Pushkin had a similar
experience. In 1830, following a cholera epidemic that had

reached Nizhny Novgorod, he found himself in lockdown in a
provincial estate. Suddenly, after years of personal turmoil, he felt
relieved, free and happy. The three months he spent in quarantine
were the most creative and productive of his life. He finished

Eugene Onegin – his masterpiece – and wrote a series of
sketches, one of which was called “A Feast During the Plague”.

We cite these historical examples of flourishing personal
creativity in some of our greatest artists during a plague or

pandemic not to minimize or distract from the catastrophic
financial impact that the COVID-19 crisis is having on the world of
culture and entertainment, but instead to provide a glimmer of

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