Mathematical Transfinites and Modernism: Literary Infinities: Number and Narrative in Modern Fiction

Baylee Brits's Literary Infinities is original, insightful, and intelligent, but falls victim to its ambitions, introducing a vast matrix of concepts, many of which overlap to the point of indistinguishability. Her primary argument is that the work of Jorge Luis Borges, Samuel Beckett, and J.M....

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of modern literature Vol. 43; no. 2; pp. 190 - 195
Main Author Gifford, Henry N.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Bloomington Indiana University Press 01.01.2020
Subjects
20th century
Aesthetics
Allegory
Ambiguity
Argentine literature
Authorship
Beckett, Samuel (1906-1989)
Borges, Jorge Luis (1899-1986)
British & Irish literature
E-books
Fiction
Interdisciplinary aspects
Irish literature
Literary characters
Literary criticism
Literary devices
Logic
Mathematicians
Mathematics
Modernism
Narratives
Set theory
Writers
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Summary:Baylee Brits's Literary Infinities is original, insightful, and intelligent, but falls victim to its ambitions, introducing a vast matrix of concepts, many of which overlap to the point of indistinguishability. Her primary argument is that the work of Jorge Luis Borges, Samuel Beckett, and J.M. Coetzee all demonstrates a kind of allegory corresponding to Georg Cantor's concept of transfinites, or “actual infinities.” The argument is successful with respect to Borges, but only convincingly demonstrates a general concern with mathematics in the other two writers, not specific “transfinite allegories.” Though it does not fulfill its introductory promise, Literary Infinities is full of sharp readings, both of fiction and criticism. Moreover, it strikes an excellent interdisciplinary balance, drawing upon complex mathematics concretely to introduce exciting new interpretations of twentieth-century classics.
ISSN:0022-281X
1529-1464
DOI:10.2979/jmodelite.43.2.13