What inspires an artist to create? Is it inner genius, external forces, or something beyond human understanding? Hirsch here sets off on an intellectual journey to unravel this mystery. At the heart of his exploration is Federico Garc¡a Lorca's concept of the duende, defined as "artistic inspiration in the face of death" or "tragic, sensual, fateful passion." Hirsch also examines the mysterious forces that have inspired artists like W.B. Yeats, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Jackson Pollock. Hirsch's analysis of artistic creativity is erudite, abstract, and occasionally overwhelming. He is so knowledgeable, so well read, and so able to cram each chapter with artistic examples ranging from the spontaneity of Miles Davis's jazz compositions to the death impulse in Rilke's poetry to the effect of black paint used by Mark Rothko that it's difficult to keep up with him. Not surprisingly, Hirsch never solves the mystery of artistic inspiration; instead, his book can and should be appreciated as a "hymn to the irrational triumphs of art, to romantic imagination."