Deflating Hyperspace

[Daniel Harper]

I don't have time to do a full-on discussion here (it is a Saturday night, 
after all), but if there was one piece of advice I could give to beginning to 
understand the science Pynchon uses it is: read Asimov, read Asimov, read 
Asimov.

In particular, _The Left Hand of the Electron_:

http://www.amazon.com/Left-Hand-Electron-Isaac-Asimov/dp/0385043457

Asimov, for those who don't know his work, had free reign from Fantasy and 
Science Fiction Magazine to write a monthly column about, well, just about 
anything he wanted. Asimov considered it his very favorite writing (and 
coming from a man who published some five hundred books that's saying 
something) and the essays ranged all over -- the various scientific fields, 
history, mathematics, even political discussions about IQ testing and 
population explosion. Pynchon himself credits Asimov with his understanding 
of entropy in the intro to _Slow Learner_, and I suspect that understanding 
Pynchon's use of math and science would be well-assisted by an understanding 
of the very chatty, informal discussions of science found in the F&SF essay 
collections.

_The Left Hand of the Electron_ is especially useful for understanding ATD 
because it includes a five-part series on optical rotation of organic 
molecules that's good enough to have helped me understand basic concepts of 
"handedness" in long carbon chains that made college-level chemistry much 
easier. It also includes a three-part section on Euclid's Fifth Postulate, 
which leads directly into understanding Riemann, and thus to understanding 
some of the higher spaces found in ATD.

(It also includes one of the most fun essays Asimov ever did, "Pompey and 
Circumstance", although I admit it's much less Pynchon-related.)

As near as I can tell from a first reading, Pynchon's math and science is all 
real, and all connected in some way to the overall themes of the novel. This 
is also true of M&D, Pynchon's other heavily science-related tome. Pynchon 
seems very science-literate, which is one of the things that draws me to him 
-- most non-SF authors don't know enough science to know why the Earth moves 
around the sun, or so it seems to me.

Again, I'm working on an involved post on these matters, at least with regard 
to the first section of M&D, and I'd like to eventually tackle some of the 
chemistry and physics of ATD. I've got a theory about the science of ATD, in 
particular: does anyone know if the words "quantum" or "Einstein" appear 
anywhere in the text? I didn't notice them, and I've been looking.


On Saturday 31 March 2007 19:08, kelber at mindspring.com wrote:
> What context does this put the math and science of ATD into?  I mean, when
> TRP talks about quaternions, Riemann space, and zeta functions, is he
> merely name-dropping?  Calling forth the atmosphere of the science and math
> communities of the early 20th century?  Calling forth the atmosphere of the
> popular understanding of science and math of that day?  How much of the
> math and science does TRP appear to understand from what he writes in ATD? 
> This is some of the science and math insight those insightless of us could
> use help with.
>
> Laura
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
> >From: Monte Davis <monte.davis at verizon.net>
> >
> >Dave Monroe steers us to:
> >> "Deflating Hyperspace" by: David Pacchioli (Research/Penn
> >> State, Vol. 16, no. 4 (December, 1995))
> >
> >Thank you very very very much. This is the most useful single reading I've
> >seen so far for putting AtD's math and science into context.

-- 
No reference to the present day is intended or should be inferred.
--Daniel Harper
countermonkey.blogspot.com