MATHEMATICAL FICTION:

a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)

Home All New Browse Search About

...
Le Cas de Sophie K. (2005)
Jean-Frangois Peyret (playwright and director)
...

This play about Sofya Kovalevskaya emphasizes her nihilistic leanings (as expressed in Kovalevskaya's own fiction). The production featured unusual modern staging, such as having three actresses portraying Kovalevskaya along with projection of both live and recorded video.

I am grateful to Vijay Fafat for suggesting I add this work to my database. Embarrassingly, I really should have known about it already since Alain Juhel's review of the play appears in the same issue of the Mathematical Intelligencer where my own collection Reality Conditions: short mathematical fiction was reviewed. (Note that Juhel's review is essentially the source of all of the information here!)

Another connection to other works of mathematical fiction is that mathematician Michèle Audin, whose fictional works are listed on this database, advised the cast of Peyret's play.

The play was originally produced for Festival d'Avignon 2005 and also ran at Paris's Theatre National de Chaillot in 2006.

More information about this work can be found at festival-avignon.com.
(Note: This is just one work of mathematical fiction from the list. To see the entire list or to see more works of mathematical fiction, return to the Homepage.)

Works Similar to Le Cas de Sophie K.
According to my `secret formula', the following works of mathematical fiction are similar to this one:
  1. Uniform Convergence: A One-Woman Play by Corrine Yap
  2. Emilie: La Marquise Du Châtelet Defends Her Life Tonight by Lauren Gunderson
  3. Beyond the Limit: The Dream of Sofya Kovalevskaya by Joan Spicci
  4. Too Much Happiness by Alice Munro
  5. A Disappearing Number by Simon McBurney
  6. Leap by Lauren Gunderson
  7. Newton's Hooke by David Pinner
  8. Calculus (Newton's Whores) by Carl Djerassi
  9. Partition by Ira Hauptman
  10. Hypatia or The Divine Algebra by Mac Wellman
Ratings for Le Cas de Sophie K.:
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.
(unrated)

PLEASE HELP US OUT BY ENTERING YOUR OWN RATINGS FOR THIS WORK.

Categories:
GenreHistorical Fiction,
MotifReal Mathematicians, Female Mathematicians,
TopicReal Mathematics,
MediumPlays,

Home All New Browse Search About

Exciting News: The total number of works of mathematical fiction listed in this database recently reached a milestone. The 1,500th entry is The Man of Forty Crowns by Voltaire. Thanks to Vijay Fafat for writing the summary of that work (and so many others). I am also grateful to everyone who has contributed to this website. Heck, I'm grateful to everyone who visited the site. Thank you!

(Maintained by Alex Kasman, College of Charleston)