Banville's Latest Novel Features Mathematician

In The Infinities, Booker Prize-winning novelist John Banville creates a leading character that is a mathematical genius. The Washington Post describes the new book as "haunting, beautiful, and even stranger than those that preceded it." 

In the world of The Infinities, the ancient Greek gods (Zeus, Hermes, etc.) observe, comment, and even interfere with the affairs of human beings. According to the Post review, "Hermes is particularly attached to Arden House, the Irish country home where the distinguished mathematician Adam Godley lies dying with his family gathered around him."

In the novel, Godley's genius led to the discovery of cold fusion and a solution to the energy crisis.

When asked in an interview with The Harvard Crimson why he chose a mathematician, Banville responded:

"I don’t know that I ever actively decided to make him anything. 'Decisions' in the writing of fiction tend to be mostly a matter of dream and drift. But I wanted him to be someone operating in an otherworld of speculation, pure number, and infinitudes, where the gods might be already at play."

According to The Los Angeles Times, three of Banville's previous novels, Doctor Copernicus (1976), Kepler (1981) and The Newton Letter (1982), have explored mathematics.

"It's clear that the ambiguous ground between quantitative certainty and aesthetic assertion preoccupies this writer in a particular way," wrote Tim Rutten for The Los Angeles Times.

Read all the reviews here:

15 Questions with John Banville (The Harvard Crimson)

Book Review: The Infinities by John Banville (Washington Post)

The Infinities by John Banville (Los Angeles Times)