From: amnell@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Marko Amnell)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,sci.math
Subject: Literary mathematicians (was Re: seeking recommendations for books in German)
Keywords: Leo Perutz, Felix Hausdorff
Date: 24 Jan 93 14:35:30 GMT
Organization: University of Helsinki

Uwe Roessler writes:

	Oliver Sharp writes:

		There has been some discussion lately about improving your
		German by reading some fun and easy books in it.  I speak
		German pretty fluently, but my reading comprehension needs
		some work.

	Leo Perutz may fit in here. He is of the same origin as Kafka: the
	jewish-german society in Prague around 1900. He wrote phantastical
	novels, which were rather successful in the 1920s, some of them were
	first published in newspapers. So his language is rather simple 
	(though there are a few austrian idiotisms in there, you'll easily
	find out), and the novels are not too long. This is not a fault but
	mere concentration and narrative economy and his plots are very 
	refined some of them would have pleased J.L.Borges: actually he 
	worked very long time as mathematician. The best novels I remember:
	'Turlupin', a remake of the story of the Marechal de Bassompierre
	(could be a backstair to Goethe), 'Der Meister des Juengsten Tages',
	'St.Petri-Schnee', a fine study in mass-hysteria which may be read
	as a metaphorical description of Germany in the early 30s, 'Wohin
	rollst du,Aepfelchen?', 'Der Schwedische Reiter' and the late 
	masterpiece: 'Nachts unter der steinernen Bruecke' the scene is the
	jewish ghetto of Prague and the Hradshin in the times of RudolfII.
	All of them are easily available as paperbacks(Rowohlt Taschenbuecher).

Although not very well-known to readers of some other languages, quite a few
of Perutz' novels have been translated into French, such as _Le cavalier 
suedois_, perhaps his finest.  From J.P. Sicre's introduction to this book, 
we learn that Peruz was interested in games and probability theory, and that
a mathematical proposition is named after him.

  Perutz, ne l'oublions pas, fut toujours fascine par la theorie des jeux
  de hasard, qu'il etudia en mathematicien (un theoreme celebre porte son
  nom) et en philosophie.  

In his introduction to _Le Marquis de Bolivar_, Roland Stragliati provides 
us with more biographical information.  We find that, like Kafka, Perutz 
worked for an insurance company (in the actuarial department), and, among
other things, wrote a monograph on the game of bridge.
  
  Comme Rilke, Meyrink et Kafka, Leo Perutz nait a Prague -- qui fait alors
  partie de l'empire austro-hongrois -- le 2 novembre 1882. Fils d'industriel,
  il quitte sa ville natale a dix-sept ans pour s'installer a Vienne et y 
  achever ses etudes.  Les lettres et les mathematiques l'attirent egalement;
  mais ces dernieres l'emportent tout d'abord.  Et il entre dans une compaignie
  d'assurances en qualite d'actuaire. Cela l'amene a mettre au point une 
  formule algebrique qui porte son nom et meme a ecrire un _Traite du jeu de 
  bridge_ base sur le calcul des probabilites.

Perutz also read widely in four languages.

  Entre-temps Perutz se marie, a trois enfants, collectionne les monnaies
  romaines, devient veuf et se remarie. It lit aussi beaucoup. Outre 
  l'allemend, il lit le francais, le latin, le grec.  Il lit Zola, Farrere,
  Stevenson, France, Lenotre.

I'm also reminded of another eminent literary mathematician, Felix Hausdroff,
who, according Cyril Domb, "up to the age of 35 ... devoted much of his time 
to literature and music, and produced belles lettres under the pen name of
Paul Mongre."  Does anyone know more about the writings of this "Paul Mongre"? 
Domb also comments briefly on Hausdorff's work in axiomatic set theory.
 
    A few words may be relevant, however, on the role played by his treatise
  Grundzuge der Mengenlehre in resolving the crisis in mathematics . . . 
  from 1875 to 1925.  Because of World War I it took some years before reviews
  appeared.  The following extracts are taken from the review by Henry 
  Blumberg . . .
    "If there are still mathematicians who hold the theory of aggregates
  under general suspicion, and are reluctant to grant it full recognition
  as a rigorous, mathematical discipline, they will find it hard to retain
  their doubts under fire of the logic of Hausdorff's treatise. It would
  be difficult to name a volume in any field of mathematics, even in the
  unclouded domain of number theory, that surpasses the Grundzuge in
  clearness and precision."
    Hausdorff['s style is such that]... there are virtually no loose ends.
    "As for more important criticism, one may quarrel with the author for
  his abstract style, for his Euclidean manner of grading the proofs, so
  that no difficulties remain and none but mild climaxes are reached, for
  his finish that may excite admiration but hardly activity on the reader's
  part. One may crave for a book that is built like a drama around a single
  idea - a more sketchy book, leaving more to the reader's imagination, a
  book with a less diversified and more emphatic message. But such 
  remonstrance would be like quarrelling with Beethoven for having written
  symphonies instead of operas".

I wonder, to what extent was Hausdorff's style of exposition in mathematics
influenced by his interest in literature and music?  Leo Perutz' fascination
with games and luck extends to his fiction, as his stories are full of random 
events and chance occurances.  Sicre encapsulates this metaphysics of life as
as game:

  Et quel etre est plus superstitieux que le joueur? Nous frappe d'ailleurs,
  a la lecture de ce livre, le recours systematique de l'auteur a toutes les 
  metaphores du jeu. Ainsi suivons-nous pas a pas l'aventure d'un homme qui
  joue avec audace et talent les meilleures cartes de l'existence... et qui
  perd. Mauvais coup du sort? Partie truquee d'avance? A moins que le joueur
  digne de ce nom ne soit precisement celui qui a compris d'emblee qu'il
  ici de chercher a gagner, et dont tout l'art consiste seulement a perdre
  avec elegance .  En quoi Perutz nous renvoie a l'obsession fondatrice 
  de toute la litterature de se siecle: soit le necessaire et impossible 
  mariage de l'absurde et de la liberte que suppose toute espece de jeu --
  et d'abord celui de l'existence.

Somehow, it seems to me aesthetically pleasing to think that that the whole 
of a person's oeuvre is interconnected at some level, and a careful analysis
could bring out this fact.  But, it might also be that there were no such 
connections, and the separate parts of one's work were just that, isolated 
fragments, related by purely contingent associations.  I would prefer to 
think, however, that music, mathematics and writing all arise from a common 
human need to overcome brute chance, and force order out of randomness.  
Isn't this fundamentally what we admire in a Beethoven symphony, a proof 
of Archimedean originality and precision, or a magnificently complex and 
satisfying plot, such as in Charles Palliser's novel _The Quincunx_?  What 
they share is the masterful drawing-together of apparently unrelated 
elements, and these new, unexpected connections give them their coherence 
and meaningfulness.


-- 
Marko Amnell
amnell@klaava.helsinki.fi