CELEBRATING THE CAREER OF A GENIUS. To watch Thierry Henry – a uniquely elegant footballer – was a mesmeric, magical, and genuinely life-affirming experience; news of his retirement cannot fail to produce a certain tranquil, empty sadness in anyone who saw him in his prime. His was a visceral talent that is unearthed, at best, once a generation. Henry possessed an intelligence, grace, and creativity that is rarely found even amongst football’s elite, an amalgamation of speed, power, and technical artistry that seemed somehow more potently beautiful than the sum of its parts. He had something more, something extra, an unconventionality of thought and an unpredictable creative flair: a flicker of true genius. With his remarkable innovations in creative assists, and by making the audience gawp at his unconventional, incomprehensible decision-making, does the above model not define Thierry Henry as a genius? Certainly, his credentials are supported by the German philosopher Immanuel Kant’s definition of genius: “a talent for producing something for which no determinate rule can be given, not a predisposition consisting of a skill for something that can be learned by following some rule or other”. Henry saw things other players couldn’t: this is the old cliché, and it is Kantian philosophy. Dennis Bergkamp had it, Diego Maradona had it, Zinedine Zidane had it. Although destined to be discredited by art-lovers worldwide, his ingenuity, speed of thought, and unexpectedness of pass mesmerised and astonished audiences like any great painter, like any true genius. Henry’s explosive power, hypnotic flair and creative intellect perfectly embodied Schopenhauer’s definition of genius: at his peak, Henry’s performances represented “remoteness from the mundane” in every sense. Experiencing his football was as joyful, and spiritually rewarding, as experiencing any magnificent work of art. He will be sorely missed. All the best to Thierry Henry.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 03:25:20 +0000
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