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Drawbridge Up: Mathematics--A Cultural Anathema
This bilingual (German/English) edition of the talk given at the International Congress of Mathematicians, Berlin, 1998, with illustrations by K. H. Hofmann and an introduction by David Mumford, discusses the role of mathematics within our culture.
48 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1999
11 people want to read
About the author
Hans Magnus Enzensberger
311 books166 followersSee also:
Cyrillic: Ханс Магнус Енценсбергер
Hans Magnus Enzensberger was a German author, poet, translator and editor. He had also written under the pseudonym Andreas Thalmayr.
Enzensberger was regarded as one of the literary founding figures of the Federal Republic of Germany and wrote more than 70 books. He was one of the leading authors in the Group 47, and influenced the 1968 West German student movement. He was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize and the Pour Le Mérite, among many others.
He wrote in a sarcastic, ironic tone in many of his poems. For example, the poem "Middle Class Blues" consists of various typicalities of middle class life, with the phrase "we can't complain" repeated several times, and concludes with "what are we waiting for?". Many of his poems also feature themes of civil unrest over economic- and class-based issues. Though primarily a poet and essayist, he also ventured into theatre, film, opera, radio drama, reportage and translation. He wrote novels and several books for children (including The Number Devil, an exploration of mathematics) and was co-author of a book for German as a foreign language, (Die Suche). He often wrote his poems and letters in lower case.
Enzensberger also invented and collaborated in the construction of a machine which automatically composes poems (Landsberger Poesieautomat). This was used during the 2006 Football World Cup to commentate on games.
Tumult, written in 2014, is an autobiographical reflection of his 1960s as a left-wing sympathizer in the Soviet Union and Cuba.
Enzensberger translated Adam Zagajewski, Lars Gustafsson, Pablo Neruda, W. H. Auden and César Vallejo. His own work has been translated into more than 40 languages.
Cyrillic: Ханс Магнус Енценсбергер
Hans Magnus Enzensberger was a German author, poet, translator and editor. He had also written under the pseudonym Andreas Thalmayr.
Enzensberger was regarded as one of the literary founding figures of the Federal Republic of Germany and wrote more than 70 books. He was one of the leading authors in the Group 47, and influenced the 1968 West German student movement. He was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize and the Pour Le Mérite, among many others.
He wrote in a sarcastic, ironic tone in many of his poems. For example, the poem "Middle Class Blues" consists of various typicalities of middle class life, with the phrase "we can't complain" repeated several times, and concludes with "what are we waiting for?". Many of his poems also feature themes of civil unrest over economic- and class-based issues. Though primarily a poet and essayist, he also ventured into theatre, film, opera, radio drama, reportage and translation. He wrote novels and several books for children (including The Number Devil, an exploration of mathematics) and was co-author of a book for German as a foreign language, (Die Suche). He often wrote his poems and letters in lower case.
Enzensberger also invented and collaborated in the construction of a machine which automatically composes poems (Landsberger Poesieautomat). This was used during the 2006 Football World Cup to commentate on games.
Tumult, written in 2014, is an autobiographical reflection of his 1960s as a left-wing sympathizer in the Soviet Union and Cuba.
Enzensberger translated Adam Zagajewski, Lars Gustafsson, Pablo Neruda, W. H. Auden and César Vallejo. His own work has been translated into more than 40 languages.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 15, 2023
Prescient at the time of its delivery (1998) and still relevant today for the general public, though could do with some modernising. By citing Ian Stewart's The Problems of Mathematics in the last section of the essay, Enzensberger captures and replicates the main view of pure, academic mathematics that explaining that mathematics to the public requires somehow 'lying'.
Mathematician: But how can I explain things properly if I don't give the details?
Android: How can anyone else understand them if you do?
Mathematician: But if I skip the fine points, some of the things I say won't be completely true! How can I talk about manifolds without mentioning that the theorems only work if the manifolds are finite-dimensional para- compact Hausdorff with empty boundary?
Android: Lie a bit.
Mathematician: Oh, but I couldn't do that!
Android: Why not? Everybody else does.
Mathematician: (Tempted, but struggling against a life-time's conditioning) But I must tell the truth!
[Stewart, pp.2–3]
There are many other forms of mathematics, historically contextualised, originating in the Global South, and thriving outside of strict academic contexts. A thorough section on any of these topics would have enhanced Enzensberger's lecture.
Mathematician: But how can I explain things properly if I don't give the details?
Android: How can anyone else understand them if you do?
Mathematician: But if I skip the fine points, some of the things I say won't be completely true! How can I talk about manifolds without mentioning that the theorems only work if the manifolds are finite-dimensional para- compact Hausdorff with empty boundary?
Android: Lie a bit.
Mathematician: Oh, but I couldn't do that!
Android: Why not? Everybody else does.
Mathematician: (Tempted, but struggling against a life-time's conditioning) But I must tell the truth!
[Stewart, pp.2–3]
There are many other forms of mathematics, historically contextualised, originating in the Global South, and thriving outside of strict academic contexts. A thorough section on any of these topics would have enhanced Enzensberger's lecture.
November 3, 2021
This talk from the author of The Number Devil is unfortunately hard to find at a reasonable price. It's a beautiful short version of the not uncommon sentiment that math should be more widely appreciated.
January 19, 2013
I loved it. It was witty and resonated with some of my own thoughts about my schooling experiences.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews