The proof stage : how theater reveals the human truth of mathematics / Stephen Abbott.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Abbott, Stephen.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mathematics--History.

Mathematics.

Theater.

Mathematics and literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (417 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Proof Stage

Place of Publication:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2023.

Summary:

"Stages of Uncertainty is the story of the unexpected collaborations and resonances between theater and mathematics and how they have evolved since the turn of the twentieth century. Toward the end of the 1800s, unsettling discoveries about alternate geometries and the mathematical infinite began to reveal that, despite its reputation for absolute certainty, mathematical truth is not immutable. At the same time, new, experimental forms of theater were rapidly developing-some inspired by these very upheavals in mathematics. Both disciplines were, and are, characterized by a quest for truth and a shared ability to investigate their respective limitations. Stephen Abbott provides the first systematic, book-length treatment of the interactions between mathematics and theater that have occurred over the last 120 years. Drawing on the author's fifteen years of experience researching and teaching a course on the subject, the book examines how the two disciplines reveal novel insights about one another. Stages of Uncertainty follows the path of playwrights that engaged mathematics such as Alfred Jarry, Stanislav Witkeiwicz, Samuel Beckett, Bertolt Brecht, Felix Durrenmatt, Tom Stoppard, Micheal Frayn, and Simon McBurney. Intertwined with this history is the history of mathematics; along the way, Abbott describes the development of quantum mechanics, chaos theory, incompleteness, and alternative geometries that occurred as these plays were being written. The main arguments are that these two domains have deep resonances, including shared notions of uncertainty, self-reference, recursion, and orientation, and that theater has engaged deeply and innovatively with math for many years. Abbott reveals a unique portrait of mathematics, one that is unexpected and deeply human"-- Provided by publisher.

"How playwrights from Alfred Jarry and Samuel Beckett to Tom Stoppard and Simon McBurney brought the power of abstract mathematics to the human stage. The discovery of alternate geometries, paradoxes of the infinite, incompleteness, and chaos theory revealed that, despite its reputation for certainty, mathematical truth is not immutable, perfect, or even perfectible. Beginning in the last century, a handful of adventurous playwrights took inspiration from the fractures of modern mathematics to expand their own artistic boundaries. Originating in the early avant-garde, mathematics-infused theater reached a popular apex in Tom Stoppard's 1993 play Arcadia. In The Proof Stage, mathematician Stephen Abbott explores this unlikely collaboration of theater and mathematics. He probes the impact of mathematics on such influential writers as Alfred Jarry, Samuel Beckett, Berthold Brecht, and Stoppard, and delves into the life and mathematics of Alan Turing as they are rendered onstage. The result is an unexpected story about the mutually illuminating relationship between proofs and plays-from Euclid and Euripides to Gödel and Godot.Theater is uniquely poised to discover the soulful, human truths embedded in the austere theorems of mathematics, but this is a difficult feat. It took Stoppard twenty-five years of experimenting with the creative possibilities of mathematics before he succeeded in making fractal geometry and chaos theory integral to Arcadia's emotional arc. In addition to charting Stoppard's journey, Abbott examines the post-Arcadia wave of ambitious works by Michael Frayn, David Auburn, Simon McBurney, Snoo Wilson, John Mighton, and others. Collectively, these gifted playwrights transform the great philosophical upheavals of mathematics into profound and sometimes poignant revelations about the human journey"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Cover

Contents

Prologue

1. Stoppard: The Incline from Thinking to Feeling

Albert's Bridge

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

Jumpers

Hapgood

Arcadia

2. Jarry and Witkiewicz: Geometry of a New Theater

Euclid's Elements

Ubu Roi and Ubu Cocu

Tumor Brainiowicz

Non-Euclidean Geometry

Gyubal Wahazar

The Water Hen

3. Beckett: The Language of Incompleteness

Murphy and Watt

Endgame

Russell's Paradox

Film and Not I

Principia Mathematica

Quad

4. Dürrenmatt, Frayn, and McBurney: The Shape of Content

The Physicists

Copenhagen

A Disappearing Number

5. Stoppard: The Logic of Self-Conscious Theater

Peano Arithmetic

Color Plates

The Real Inspector Hound and Other Plays

Dogg's Hamlet and Gödel's Code

The Real Thing

The Hard Problem

The Invention of Love

6. Whitemore, Wilson, and Mighton: The Dramatic Life of Alan Turing

Breaking the Code

The Universal Machine

Breaking the Code, Continued

Lovesong of the Electric Bear

Half Life

7. Auburn: Beautiful Proofs

Acknowledgments

Notes

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9780691243368

0691243360

OCLC:

1357549223