MATHEMATICAL FICTION:

a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)

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Uniform Convergence: A One-Woman Play (2016)
Corrine Yap
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This play about race, gender and math was written and first performed by Corrine Yap when she was a math/theater double major at Sarah Lawrence College. It has evolved and changed and continued to be performed now that she is a graduate student. The production that I saw was at MathFest 2018 in Denver, CO.

In the play, Yap portrays two different characters: an Asian American professor teaching a class in real analysis and the historical mathematician Sophia Kovalevkaya.

During the contemporary scenes, the professor begins by speaking to the audience as if they were the students in the class -- discussing the syllabus, defining uniform convergence, etc. -- but the dialogue is always diverted into emotional outbursts about the specific prejudices she faces and about the human tendency to put things (even people) into convenient "boxes".

Kovalevskaya is shown writing to Weierstrass and trying to find a job, a task made unreasonably difficult because of the prejudices against women in mathematics (and perhaps prejudices against Russians as well).

The play is artfully done and contains many interesting observations about the human condition presented through mathematical analogies.

More information about this work can be found at www.corrineyap.com.
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Works Similar to Uniform Convergence: A One-Woman Play
According to my `secret formula', the following works of mathematical fiction are similar to this one:
  1. Beyond the Limit: The Dream of Sofya Kovalevskaya by Joan Spicci
  2. Too Much Happiness by Alice Munro
  3. A Hill on the Dark Side of the Moon by Lennart Hjulström
  4. Emilie: La Marquise Du Châtelet Defends Her Life Tonight by Lauren Gunderson
  5. Le Cas de Sophie K. by Jean-Frangois Peyret (playwright and director)
  6. Enchantress of Numbers: A Novel of Ada Lovelace by Jennifer Chiaverini
  7. The Blue Door by Tanya Barfield
  8. The Mathematician's Shiva by Stuart Rojstaczer
  9. The Ishango Bone by Paul Hastings Wilson
  10. The Fairytale of the Completely Symmetrical Butterfly by Dietmar Dath
Ratings for Uniform Convergence: A One-Woman Play:
RatingsHave you seen/read this work of mathematical fiction? Then click here to enter your own votes on its mathematical content and literary quality or send me comments to post on this Webpage.
Mathematical Content:
5/5 (1 votes)
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Literary Quality:
4/5 (1 votes)
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Categories:
GenreHistorical Fiction,
MotifReal Mathematicians, Female Mathematicians, Sonya Kovalevskaya,
TopicAnalysis/Calculus/Differential, Real Mathematics,
MediumPlays,

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Exciting News: The 1,600th entry was recently added to this database of mathematical fiction! Also, for those of you interested in non-fictional math books let me (shamelessly) plug the recent release of the second edition of my soliton theory textbook.

(Maintained by Alex Kasman, College of Charleston)