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Once upon a prime : the wondrous connections between mathematics and literature / Sarah Hart.

by Hart, Sarah B.

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Flatiron Books, 2023.

Mathematics in literature.

Numbers in literature.

9781250850881 (hc.)

viii, 290 p. : ill. ; 26 cm.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [271]-277) and index.

"We often think of mathematics and literature as polar opposites. But what if, instead, they were fundamentally linked? In her clear, insightful, laugh-out-loud funny debut, 'Once Upon a Prime,' Professor Sarah Hart shows us the myriad connections between math and literature, and how understanding those connections can enhance our enjoyment of both. Did you know, for instance, that Moby-Dick is full of sophisticated geometry? That James Joyce's stream-of-consciousness novels are deliberately checkered with mathematical references? That George Eliot was obsessed with statistics? That 'Jurassic Park' is undergirded by fractal patterns? That Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wrote mathematician characters? From sonnets to fairytales to experimental French literature, Professor Hart shows how math and literature are complementary parts of the same quest, to understand human life and our place in the universe. As the first woman to hold England's oldest mathematical chair, Professor Hart is the ideal tour guide, taking us on an unforgettable journey through the books we thought we knew, revealing new layers of beauty and wonder. As she promises, you’re going to need a bigger bookcase."--From publisher.

"This spirited if inessential debut by Hart, a math professor at the University of London, surveys how math influences the structure, symbolism, and themes of literature. She posits that math and literature are linked in their common “quest” to “understand human life and our place in the universe,” and analyzes how Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Kurt Vonnegut, and Oscar Wilde, among others, make use of mathematical concepts in their work. She explores in Moby-Dick the calculations behind Ishmael’s observation that a soapstone released along the interior of a vat for rendering whale oil will take the same time to slide to the bottom regardless of the height it’s released from. However, it’s not clear how this relates to Hart’s contention that the use of math by Melville’s characters signifies vain efforts to control and “navigate the unknowable universe.” Elsewhere, she notes that the patterns and rhythms of poetry are rooted in math, suggesting that the prime numbers in the haiku format (three lines of five and seven syllables) make the lines “separate indivisible entities.” Such connections come across as amusing trivia, but Hart fares better when examining authors who deliberately looked to math for inspiration, such as the French experimentalists known as the Oulipo who in the 1960s sought to devise original literary forms from mathematical ideas. This won’t change how readers see their favorite books, but there are some entertaining tidbits." --Publishers Weekly.

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