Author:
Hart, Sarah B. author.
Edition Statement:First edition.
ImprintNew York : Flatiron Books, 2023.
Descriptionviii, 290 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm
Note:Part 1. Mathematical structure, creativity, and constraint -- One, two, buckle my shoe: the patterns of poetry -- The geometry of narrative: how mathematics can structure a story -- A workshop for potential literature: mathematics and the Oulipo -- Let me count the ways: the arithmetic of narrative choice -- Part 2.Algebraic allusions: the narrative uses of mathematics -- Fairy-tale figures: the symbolism of numbers in fiction -- Ahab's arithmetic: mathematical metaphors in fiction -- Travels in fabulous realms: the math of myth -- Part 3. Mathematics becomes the story -- Taking an idea for a walk: mathematical concepts so compelling they escape into fiction -- The real life of pi: thematic mathematics in the novel -- Moriarty was a mathematician: the role of the mathematical genius in literature.
Bibliography Note:Includes bibliographical references (pages 271-277) and index.
Note:"Mathematics and literature are often considered polar opposites, but in her clear, insightful, laugh-out-loud funny debut, Once Upon a Prime, Dr. Sarah Hart shows us the myriad ways in which math and literature are fundamentally connected, and how these connections can enhance our enjoyment of each, exponentially. For instance, did you know that Moby-Dick is full of geometry? Or that James Joyce's streams of consciousness are peppered with mathematical references? Math penetrates the imagined world everywhere we look. George Eliot was obsessed with statistics, Jurassic Park is undergirded by fractal patterns, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie both featured mathematicians as characters. From sonnets to fairy tales to experimental French literature, Dr. Hart delightfully illuminates how math and literature are complementary parts of the same quest: to understand human life and our place in the universe. As the first woman to hold the Gresham Professorship of Geometry, England's oldest mathematical chair, Dr. Hart is the ideal tour guide to the books we thought we knew, taking us on an unforgettable journey while revealing new layers of beauty and wonder we never imagined. As she promises, you're going to need a bigger bookcase!" --Dust jacket flap.
