Paul Valéry and Geometry
Instrument, Writing Model, Practice
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3856116 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Karin Krauthausen (0000-0002-6655-647X, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2010 |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 231-249 |
| Publication date | 2010-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Configurations (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1063-1801 • E-ISSN: 1080-6520 |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1353/con.2010.0013 |
| OpenAlex | W1998400359 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 2 |
In the course of the nineteenth century, the development of non-Euclidean geometries and topology led to wide-ranging discussions on the foundations of mathematics. The new mathematical objects and the accompanying disputes also became a source of fascination for literature. A paradigmatic instance of this is the French writer and theorist Paul Valéry (1871-1945), whose Cahiers (1894-1945) show a constant preoccupation with mathematical problems. What is remarkable here is the fundamental significance Valéry ascribes to mathematics for his own work. Initially, he searched in topology for a tool to advance his reflection on psychology. Although this project ultimately failed, mathematics became for Valéry an ideal-since "operative"-mode of writing, one against which to measure his own literary writing and note-taking. However, the result of this formalization, which he pursued over decades, was neither mathematic literature nor, indeed, literary mathematics, but a form of writing that had a significant effect upon the twentieth-century understanding of literature: the aim of producing a finished work was shifted into the background to make room for writing as a "life-form
Aesthetics · Epistemology · Euclidean geometry · Geometry · Mathematics education · Pure mathematics · Art, Technology, and Culture · Computer Science · Literary Analysis and Cultural Studies · Mathematics · Philosophical and Theoretical Analysis · Philosophy
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.31 |
| Citation span | 2013 - 2026 (14) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |