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Lobachevsky (fwd)
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From: Stephen H. Blackwell <sblackwe@utk.edu>
Lobachevski comes up in The Gift, p. 240: "'All Kazan knew
Lobochevski,' [Chernyshevski] wrote to his sons from Siberia in the
seventies, 'all Kazan was of the unanimous opinion that the man was a
complete fool... What on earth is the "curvature of a ray" or "curved
space"? What is "geometry without the axiom of parallel lines"? Is it
possible to write Russian without verbs? yes, it is--for a joke.'" [Ch.
goes on to quote Fet]. Later, Fyodor underscores his distance from
Chernyshevski, and kinship with Lobachevski, when he insists, "I search
beyond the barricades (of words, of sensees, of the world) for infinity,
where all, all the lines meet. (329).
See also NIKOLAI GOGOL, 145 (1944 ed.) on Lobachevski: "If parallel
lines do not meet it is not because meet they cannot but because they
have other things to do."
Someday, I hope to do some research on the "Lobachevsky connection"...
--
Stephen H. Blackwell
Assistant Professor of Russian
Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures
701 McClung Tower
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN 37996
Phone 423/974-4536
Fax: 423/974-7096
email: sblackwe@utk.edu
Lobachevski comes up in The Gift, p. 240: "'All Kazan knew
Lobochevski,' [Chernyshevski] wrote to his sons from Siberia in the
seventies, 'all Kazan was of the unanimous opinion that the man was a
complete fool... What on earth is the "curvature of a ray" or "curved
space"? What is "geometry without the axiom of parallel lines"? Is it
possible to write Russian without verbs? yes, it is--for a joke.'" [Ch.
goes on to quote Fet]. Later, Fyodor underscores his distance from
Chernyshevski, and kinship with Lobachevski, when he insists, "I search
beyond the barricades (of words, of sensees, of the world) for infinity,
where all, all the lines meet. (329).
See also NIKOLAI GOGOL, 145 (1944 ed.) on Lobachevski: "If parallel
lines do not meet it is not because meet they cannot but because they
have other things to do."
Someday, I hope to do some research on the "Lobachevsky connection"...
--
Stephen H. Blackwell
Assistant Professor of Russian
Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures
701 McClung Tower
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN 37996
Phone 423/974-4536
Fax: 423/974-7096
email: sblackwe@utk.edu