| Contributed by
Hauke Reddmann
It is tempting to read too much
into the work of Helga Königsdorf, mathematician and
writer, who survived the Nazis, the GDR, broken ideals
and Parkinsons disease (and recently died in 2014 at age 75).
She was one of the many who believed socialism to be
a good thing and only the real existing one being faulty.
Liability of the scientist and feminism were a main
theme in her work, but given that her husband and son
are mathematicians too, there is surprisingly little math
in her stories.
"Meine ungehörigen Träume" (1978) - Contains the short stories
"Lemma 1" and "Krise" which could be termed Social Math
(in analogy to Social Fiction, a category of SF).
Content: If I'd botched a lemma, so there, I'm an amateur.
If a capitalist mathematician botches a lemma, it might *very*
theoretically endanger his job. If a communist mathematician
botches a lemma and ruins the 5 Year Plan...The botchess
is rather lucky that her superiors, who signed the botchery
without looking, have to take most of the flak. "Krise" is
of similar content - under communism, *everything* was
political.
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