Noble Numbers, Subtle Words

Download or read book Noble Numbers, Subtle Words written by Barbara Milberg Fisher and published by Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study approaches the use of mathematics in fiction in an entirely new way, as a potent instrument of language. Following Wittgenstein's description of mathematical constructs as a component of ordinary language, Fisher shows how number, geometric figuration, algebraic coding, and transcendent abstractions have been made to function as practical narrative tools. Far from rehearsing the various paradigms of numerology, whether Pythagorean, Elizabethan, or Cabalistic, this book explores the tactical deployment of mathematical objects as shaping and framing agents. It reveals how mathematical objects may be subordinated to the storyteller's art.