D'Alembert's Principle : A Novel in Three Panels

by Andrew Crumey

• ISBN13: 9780312204013
• ISBN10: 0312204019
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 1999-10-30
• Publisher: Picador

Summary

As the scientist D'Alembert nears the end of his life, he looks back on his friendships with Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Denis Diderot and mourns his unrequited love for a woman who spent years deceiving him. At the same time, an exiled Jacobite dreams of journeying to the planets, and in a prison cell two unlikely captives discuss love, language, and fate. Meticulously crafted,D'Alembert's Principleis a fascinating historical triptych about memory, reason, and imagination set in the rich and lavish world of eighteenth-century Europe.

Author Biography

Andrew Crumey studied theoretical physics and mathematics at St. Andrews University and Imperial College, and did postdoctoral research at Leeds University on nonlinear dynamics. He is the author of two other novels, Music, In a Foreign Language and Pfitz, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year (both Picador). He lives in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Table of Contents

"The legacies of D'Alembert, Gerguson and Goldmann, a principle, a vision and a story, combine to create a portrait of the 18th century European mind stretched thin between the heart and the stars."--Los Angeles Times

"Inventive, playful...[D'Alembert's Principle is] a confection that is at once elegant, provocative and thoroughly entertaining."--Merle Rubin, The Wall Street Journal

"Proceeding from poignancy to awe to hilarity, the three parts constitute an intellectual treat."--Booklist