Thursday 10 September 2009

A fascinating novel

Cover of David Leabvitt's novel 'The Indian Clerk' I've only just got around to reading this fascinating novel, published last year. It fictionalises the relationship between the mathematicians Hardy, Littlewood and Ramanujan almost a hundred years ago. Historians may object to some of the liberties taken by the novelist, but it is a loving examination of a mathematical world, not ar removed in time, but now almost unthinkable. It deals with the characters' dilemmas sympathetically. As one who was brought up on the story of Hardy and Ramanujan as it has become part of mathematical folklore, I was particularly interested to see a non-mathematician's take. A thought-provoking novel which I strongly recommend.

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