Jedenfalls unter anderem dafür ð
Heute wurde ja der Literatur-Nobelpreis an die Kurzgeschichten-Autorin Alice Munro vergeben, und deren letzter Geschichtenband “Too much happiness” aus dem Jahr 2009 hat (neben 9 kürzeren Stories) als titelgebenden Hauptteil eine Erzählung über die Mathematikerin Sofia Kovalevkaja. Ich habe mir das Buch gerade im Apple-Bookstore besorgt und werde hier vielleicht später auch noch etwas dazu schreiben. Für heute nur ein paar Zitate aus älteren Rezensionen.
Von einer privaten Webseite über Mathematik und Mathematiker in der Literatur:
The latest collection from Alice Munro, whose short stories have won her many literary awards, features a title story about the final days of Sonia Kovalevskaya. The main source of tension in the story is her love affair with Maxim Kovalevsky, the Russian playboy who just happened to have the same last name as her late husband, which was also the focus of the film A Hill on the Dark Side of the Moon. In addition, this story also contains “flashbacks” to the earlier period covered by Beyond the Limit.
Of course, the writing is beautiful. Mathematics is not the central focus of the story, but neither is it avoided (as in the film) nor is it presented inaccurately. An appearance by Poincare discussing his prize, many mentions of Weierstrass (her thesis advisor), and technical terms such as `theta functions’ or `partial differential equations’ are used well in this character study of a woman living at a time when her skills and interests were not fully appreciated by the rest of society:(quoted from Too Much Happiness):
Then they had given her the Bordin Prize, they had kissed her hand and presented her with speeches and flowers in the most elegant lavishly lit rooms. But they had closed their doors when it came to giving her a job. They would no more think of that than of employing a learned chimpanzee. The wives of the great scientists preferred not to meet her, or invite her into their homes.An author’s note explains that Munro ran across an entry on “Kovalevsky” while searching for something else in the encyclopedia and became enthralled. She suggests that “Little Sparrow: A Portrait of Sophia Kovalevsky” was a primary source. I am assuming, therefore, that it is historically accurate and well researched (at least as historical fiction goes). However, I am not sufficiently expert to be able to say this definitively. In any case, it is certainly believable.
In addition to appearing in the collection, this story was also published in Harper’s Magazine (August 2009).
Quelle: Alex Kasman
und von der “Math in News”-Seite der American Mathematical Society:
The August 2009 issue of Harper’s Magazine highlights the math-inspired title story of Alice Munro’s latest book, “Too Much Happiness.”
Set in Victorian Europe, “Too Much Happiness” recounts the final winter journey of ÃĐmigrÃĐ Russian mathematician Sofia Kovalevskaya. It takes her from the French Riviera, to Paris, Germany, and the Danish Isles, where she has a fateful meeting with a local doctor. At her final stop in Sweden, Kovalevskaya takes up a position at Stockholm University, the only university in Europe willing to appoint a woman mathematician.
Although Munro’s story is fiction, Kovalevskaya’s mathematical achievements and her relationships with key mathematicians of the era, such as Weierstrass, Mittag-Leffler, and PoincarÃĐ, are based on fact. “Actually, this science [mathematics] requires great fantasy,” Alice Munro quotes Kovalevskaya as saying. Kovalevskaya, who was the first major Russian female mathematician and the first woman named to a full professorship in Northern Europe, was responsible for original contributions to analysis, differential equations, and mechanics. A crater on the moon was later named for Kovalevskaya.
Munro was awarded the International Man Booker Prize earlier this year for her contribution to an achievement in fiction on the world stage. For another depiction of Kovalevskaya, see the 1983 Swedish film “A Hill on the Dark Side of the Moon.”
Außerdem eine ausführliche Besprechung von Marijke Boucherie und eine kürzere Besprechung in der New York Times.
Und auf Deutsch in der Neuen ZÞricher Zeitung: Die hÃķhere Mathematik des GlÞcks.
Die ersten beiden Seiten der deutschen Ãbersetzung hier.
Kommentare (9)