Modernism in mathematics – this unusual notion turns out to provide new perspectives on central questions in and beyond literary modernism. This books draws on prose texts by mathematicians and on historical and cultural studies of mathematics to introduce the so-called ‘foundational crisis of mathematics’ in the early twentieth century, and it analyses major novels that employ developments in mathematics as exemplary of wider modernist movements. The monograph focuses on Thomas Pynchon’s __Against the Day__ (2006) and __Gravity’s Rainbow__ (1973), Hermann Broch’s novel trilogy __The Sleepwalkers__ (1930-32), and Robert Musil’s __The Man without Qualities__ (1930/32). These novels accord mathematics and its modernist transformation a central place in their visions and present it as interrelated with political, linguistic, epistemological and ethical developments in the modern West. Not least, the texts explore the freedoms and opportunities that the mathematical crisis implies and relate the emerging notion of ‘fictional’ characteristics of mathematics to the possibilities of literature. By exploring how the novels accord mathematics a central role as a particularly telling indicator of modernist transformations, this book argues that imaginative works contribute to establishing mathematics as part of modernist culture. The monograph thus opens up new frames of textual and cultural analysis that help understand the modernist condition from the interdisciplinary perspective of literature and mathematics studies, and it demonstrates the necessity to account for the specificity of mathematics in the field of literature and science studies. An analysis of novelistic explorations of modernism in mathematics and its cultural interrelationsModernism in mathematics - this unusual notion turns out to provide a new perspective on central questions in and beyond literary modernism. Contrasting 'mathematical fictions' from and about the heyday of mathematical modernism, this book relates literary engagements with mathematical modernism to the wider context of modernist critiques of Enlightenment values and postmodern reassessments of modernist patterns. The analysis of canonical works by Thomas Pynchon, Hermann Broch, and Robert Musil demonstrates how mathematics is accorded a central role as a particularly telling indicator of modernist transformations, and how imaginative illustrations contribute to establishing mathematics as part of modernist culture. In its interdisciplinary exploration of modernist interrelations between the surprisingly closely related fields of mathematics and literature, the book draws on prose works by mathematicians, research in the history and philosophy of mathematics, and literary scholarship.Key Features:Reveals new frames of textual and cultural analysis that help understand the modernist condition from the interdisciplinary perspective of literature and mathematics studiesSupports the notion of mathematical modernism through analysis of literary fiction, thereby advancing knowledge of modernism in science with a literary perspectiveHighlights the role of mathematics in modernist works and postmodernist re-examinations of modernity and modernismElucidates crucial and not easily accessible aspects of canonical works, which open up new avenues for research An analysis of novelistic explorations of modernism in mathematics and its cultural interrelations Modernism in mathematics this unusual notion turns out to provide a new perspective on central questions in and beyond literary modernism. Contrasting mathematical fictions from and about the heyday of mathematical modernism, this book relates literary engagements with mathematical modernism to the wider context of modernist critiques of Enlightenment values and postmodern reassessments of modernist patterns. The analysis of canonical works by Thomas Pynchon, Hermann Broch, and Robert Musil demonstrates how mathematics is accorded a central role as a particularly telling indicator of modernist transformations, and how imaginative illustrations contribute to establishing mathematics as part of modernist culture. In its interdisciplinary exploration of modernist interrelations between the surprisingly closely related fields of mathematics and literature, the book draws on prose works by mathematicians, research in the history and philosophy of mathematics, and literary scholarship. Key Features: Modernism in mathematics - this unusual notion turns out to provide a new perspective on central questions in and beyond literary modernism. Contrasting 'mathematical fictions' from and about the heyday of mathematical modernism, this text relates literary engagements with mathematical modernism to the wider context of modernist critiques of Enlightenment values and postmodern reassessments of modernist patterns. The analysis of canonical works by Thomas Pynchon, Hermann Broch, and Robert Musil demonstrates how mathematics is accorded a central role as a particularly telling indicator of modernist transformations, and how imaginative illustrations contribute to establishing mathematics as part of modernist culture 1. Mathematics And Politics: Thomas Pynchon, Against The Day -- 2. Mathematics, Language, Structure: Hermann Broch, The Sleepwalkers -- 3. Mathematics, Epistemology, Ethics: Robert Musil, The Man Without Qualities -- 4. Mathematics And Fiction: Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow. Nina Engelhardt. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 170-185) And Index.
