Recognizing Greatness
In Proust's reflections on the fictional writer Bergotte, he reveals a profound truth about how we perceive artistic talent. People would readily identify Bergotte's work—"You don't need to see the signature, you know right away that it's by him"—yet hesitated to call him talented or great. We're remarkably slow to recognize genius when it appears in unfamiliar forms. Instead, we label new artistic voices with descriptors like "originality," "charm," "delicacy," or "strength." It's only with time and familiarity that we realize these qualities collectively constitute what we call talent. Our recognition of greatness often arrives late, after we've adjusted our expectations to accommodate new expressions of brilliance.