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Nabokov and Mathematics (fwd)
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From Eric Edward Katz (eekatz@pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu)
The discussion of John Nash reminds me of a question I've been meaning to
pose to the list: where in his works does Nabokov make references to
mathematics and what was the extent of his knowledge of math?
There is an excellent description of Luzhin's study of (projective)
geometry in _The Defense_. The narrator of _Ultima Thule_ comments
sarcastically to Falter that his great secret is hidden in the word
"heterologous." This is a reference to the Richard paradox:
Take all words. Call those that describe themselves (like adjectival)
homologous, those that don't, heterologous. Then, how would the word
"heterologous" be classified? Nabokov's facetious use of the paradox is
even appropriate.
Doesn't Nabokov somewhere refer to the "poetry of pure mathematics"?
That leads me to wonder if he read G.H. Hardy's _A Mathematician's
Apology_. In it Hardy expresses a theory of aesthetics ("A mathematician,
like a painter or a poet, is a maker of patterns") and a disdain for the
practical that Nabokov would have appreciated. Incidentally, Hardy and
Nabokov may have been at Cambridge at the same time (Hardy as a prof),
but it's absurd to ask if they ever met.
Sincerely,
Eric Edward Katz
(Eric Edward Katz is a mathematics major at Ohio State University)
The discussion of John Nash reminds me of a question I've been meaning to
pose to the list: where in his works does Nabokov make references to
mathematics and what was the extent of his knowledge of math?
There is an excellent description of Luzhin's study of (projective)
geometry in _The Defense_. The narrator of _Ultima Thule_ comments
sarcastically to Falter that his great secret is hidden in the word
"heterologous." This is a reference to the Richard paradox:
Take all words. Call those that describe themselves (like adjectival)
homologous, those that don't, heterologous. Then, how would the word
"heterologous" be classified? Nabokov's facetious use of the paradox is
even appropriate.
Doesn't Nabokov somewhere refer to the "poetry of pure mathematics"?
That leads me to wonder if he read G.H. Hardy's _A Mathematician's
Apology_. In it Hardy expresses a theory of aesthetics ("A mathematician,
like a painter or a poet, is a maker of patterns") and a disdain for the
practical that Nabokov would have appreciated. Incidentally, Hardy and
Nabokov may have been at Cambridge at the same time (Hardy as a prof),
but it's absurd to ask if they ever met.
Sincerely,
Eric Edward Katz
(Eric Edward Katz is a mathematics major at Ohio State University)