I think there's an important caveat that needs to be added to your conclusion: "Events can and do hinge on exceptional talent correctly deployed". Cummings lauds Woodcock & Stephenson for their management abilities, not for individual brilliance: "Our biggest obstacle was ... the appalling infighting on our own side"; "They were the operational/management and communications foundation of the campaign". That's a very specific type of "exceptional talent", and is often overlooked - we all remember Cummings the disruptor, not Woodcock the team-wrangler.
YES re Ernaux and Eliot. "Journey of Magi" is a marvel. Had forgotten Donne's use of "gold to airy thinness beat" outside of poem. Thanks for reminder. (And Yes! re Jamaica Kinkaid. Her short story "Girl" is worth 50 Ernaux.
I think there's an important caveat that needs to be added to your conclusion: "Events can and do hinge on exceptional talent correctly deployed". Cummings lauds Woodcock & Stephenson for their management abilities, not for individual brilliance: "Our biggest obstacle was ... the appalling infighting on our own side"; "They were the operational/management and communications foundation of the campaign". That's a very specific type of "exceptional talent", and is often overlooked - we all remember Cummings the disruptor, not Woodcock the team-wrangler.
YES re Ernaux and Eliot. "Journey of Magi" is a marvel. Had forgotten Donne's use of "gold to airy thinness beat" outside of poem. Thanks for reminder. (And Yes! re Jamaica Kinkaid. Her short story "Girl" is worth 50 Ernaux.