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Η θεά των μικρών θριάμβων
Πανεπιστήμιο του Πρίνστον, 1980. Η Άννα Ροθ, νεαρή άσημη αρχειοθέτρια χωρίς φιλοδοξίες, αναλαμβάνει το δύσκολο έργο να εξασφαλίσει για λογαριασμό του Ινστιτούτου Προχωρημένων Μελετών το αρχείο του Κουρτ Γκέντελ, του πιο γοητευτικού και ερμητικού μαθηματικού του εικοστού αιώνα.
Η αποστολή της είναι να εξημερώσει τη χήρα του μεγάλου ανδρός, μια περιβόητη μέγαιρα που, απ' ό, τι φαίνεται, παίρνει όψιμα την εκδίκησή της ενάντια στο κατεστημένο, αρνούμενη να παραχωρήσει τα ανυπολόγιστης επιστημονικής αξίας έγγραφα του συζύγου της.
Από την πρώτη τους συνάντηση, η Αντέλ αντιλαμβάνεται πλήρως το ρόλο της Άννας. Ενάντια σε κάθε προσδοκία, δεν την απορρίπτει, αλλά επιβάλλει τους δικούς της κανόνες στο παιχνίδι. Η ηλικιωμένη γυναίκα γνωρίζει καλά ότι σύντομα θα πεθάνει· έχει όμως μια ιστορία να αφηγηθεί, μια ιστορία που κανείς ως τότε δεν θέλησε να ακούσει. Από τη λαμπερή Βιέννη της δεκαετίας του 1930 στο μεταπολεμικό Πρίνστον, από το Άνσλους στον Μακαρθισμό κι από το τέλος του θετικιστικού ιδεώδους στην επέλαση των πυρηνικών εξοπλισμών, η Άννα ανακαλύπτει τη διαδρομή μιας γυναίκας η οποία βρέθηκε αντιμέτωπη σ' όλη της τη ζωή με την αδύνατη εξίσωση που συνδέει την ιδιοφυΐα, τον έρωτα και την τρέλα. (Από την παρουσίαση στο οπισθόφυλλο του βιβλίου)
Η αποστολή της είναι να εξημερώσει τη χήρα του μεγάλου ανδρός, μια περιβόητη μέγαιρα που, απ' ό, τι φαίνεται, παίρνει όψιμα την εκδίκησή της ενάντια στο κατεστημένο, αρνούμενη να παραχωρήσει τα ανυπολόγιστης επιστημονικής αξίας έγγραφα του συζύγου της.
Από την πρώτη τους συνάντηση, η Αντέλ αντιλαμβάνεται πλήρως το ρόλο της Άννας. Ενάντια σε κάθε προσδοκία, δεν την απορρίπτει, αλλά επιβάλλει τους δικούς της κανόνες στο παιχνίδι. Η ηλικιωμένη γυναίκα γνωρίζει καλά ότι σύντομα θα πεθάνει· έχει όμως μια ιστορία να αφηγηθεί, μια ιστορία που κανείς ως τότε δεν θέλησε να ακούσει. Από τη λαμπερή Βιέννη της δεκαετίας του 1930 στο μεταπολεμικό Πρίνστον, από το Άνσλους στον Μακαρθισμό κι από το τέλος του θετικιστικού ιδεώδους στην επέλαση των πυρηνικών εξοπλισμών, η Άννα ανακαλύπτει τη διαδρομή μιας γυναίκας η οποία βρέθηκε αντιμέτωπη σ' όλη της τη ζωή με την αδύνατη εξίσωση που συνδέει την ιδιοφυΐα, τον έρωτα και την τρέλα. (Από την παρουσίαση στο οπισθόφυλλο του βιβλίου)
456 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
About the author
Yannick Grannec
7 books7 followersYannick Grannec is a graphic designer, freelance art director, professor of fine arts, and enthusiast of mathematics. The Goddess of Small Victories is her first novel. She lives in Saint-Paul de Vence, France.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 136 reviews
December 6, 2014
Kurt Gödel: never heard of him before this delightful book. Yannick Grannec writes an entertaining novel about the history of science from 1928 to the late 1970’s. Kurt Gödel was a mathematical genius, a great friend of Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer, and Oskar Morgenstern. He lived through the McCarthy and J. Edgar Hoover era and survived the holocaust. Grannec decided to write this historical fiction novel through the eyes of Gödel’s wife, Adele. According to Grannec, Adele has been described as “common” and others wondered why a genius would marry a common woman. Grannec wondered why a normal woman would marry a mad genius. Thus a witty novel is born. Grannec’s Adele is saucy and sassy. She can entertain Albert Einstein and make him laugh (their friendship has been documented).
The historical parts of science are real and fully researched (she provides notations). What is fiction is Grannec’s imagination of what it took to be married to Kurt Gödel. She used facts and built an interesting and entertaining read about the lives of influential scientists. I would never have thought I would enjoy reading a book about science. I love learning facts of our nations history and being amused at the same time.
The historical parts of science are real and fully researched (she provides notations). What is fiction is Grannec’s imagination of what it took to be married to Kurt Gödel. She used facts and built an interesting and entertaining read about the lives of influential scientists. I would never have thought I would enjoy reading a book about science. I love learning facts of our nations history and being amused at the same time.
July 20, 2015
The first half of this book gets 4 stars from me. A really interesting portrait of the kind of woman we don't really have in our society anymore. Adele Godel marries a mathematical genius and spends her life caring for him despite his fragile mental and physical health. Anna Roth is a young woman of the new breed, wanting her own life and career, not sure if any man can fit into that equation, and not sure enough of herself to move forward.
The interaction of the elderly Adele and the young Anna is moving and interesting. And the first half of Adele's life story is fascinating. Unfortunately, the second half of the book gets a little overloaded with the kind of details that are common in historical fiction featuring real-life figures. The first few chapters that feature Einstein, a close friend of Godel's, are delightful. But this continues for chapter after chapter, and after Adele and her husband settle at Princeton the book stops moving forward and becomes a little repetitive.
Still, I was really intrigued by much of this book and for the most part enjoyed it.
The interaction of the elderly Adele and the young Anna is moving and interesting. And the first half of Adele's life story is fascinating. Unfortunately, the second half of the book gets a little overloaded with the kind of details that are common in historical fiction featuring real-life figures. The first few chapters that feature Einstein, a close friend of Godel's, are delightful. But this continues for chapter after chapter, and after Adele and her husband settle at Princeton the book stops moving forward and becomes a little repetitive.
Still, I was really intrigued by much of this book and for the most part enjoyed it.
June 12, 2014
A novel with two parallel storylines ought to be in a state of dynamic equilibrium, with forces from both narratives balancing and advancing each other. The Goddess of Small Victories does not achieve that balance. Adele Gödel, the goddess, relates the small victories,the daily balancing acts she performed to keep her frail, unstable husband from collapsing under the weight of his genius, eccentricities, and paranoia. Her husband, Kurt Gödel, was the mathematician whose Incompleteness Theorums revolutionized higher mathematics by proving that axioms within a closed system cannot be proven from within that system. She found that to be true in her life, as well, since she was excluded from the processes and debates that Gödel and his circle debated endlessly, without much reference to the mundane world without.
She relates these stories in flashbacks, as she lies dying in a nursing home, to Ann Roth, an archivist at the Institute for Advanced Study, whose director tasks her with acquiring Godel's papers. Anna is not a stranger to the IAS, having been raised nearby in an atmosphere that rewarded the type of excellence it represented, and left her feeling unnecessary when she did not reach its level.
In alternating chapters, the women share stories from their lives - Adele's price for considering Anna's request. Adele talks about being a dancer in Vienna who marries the almost-unknowable Kurt. His lifestyle demands are specific and constricting; they are the matrix he requires to survive. Their lives are turned to chaos by the beginnings of World War II. Before they can escape Austria, they endure a terrifying encounter with Hitler's street thugs, who bully Kurt and equate mathematicians with Jewishness. A grueling trip across Siberia and the Pacific lands them in the United States, and, eventually, at Princeton. This is a fit destination for Gödel. Not so, initially, for Adele, whose English is weak and whose life is ruled by Kurt's demands.
Some of Adele's small victories are the bits of respect from her husband's genius friends, including Robert Oppenheimer and Albert Einstein. They become regulars at the Gödel house, where they discuss mathematics, physics, politics, and metaphysics while praising her cooking. Decades later, Adele has learned enough to repeat and discuss some of the concepts with Anna, as if to prove her own worth after many years of having been nearly invisible in her husband's world.
Anna's story? Almost irrelevant. She, too, is a handmaiden to the geniuses of the Institute. The details are not particularly compelling until she begins to take some chances, goaded by the still-vibrant Adele.
The weakness of Anna's story is compounded by the portions of Adele's that read like extended Cliff's notes for concepts that range from Gaussian curves, quantum mechanics versus Newtonian physics, set theory, variable infinities, and amicable numbers. The metaphysics delve into whether the existence of God can be proven through mathematics. Even a slightly-knowledgeable admirer of these subjects will lose the narrative thread while reading fictional discussions that alternate between the paradoxes inherent in time travel, and the excellence of Adele's cooking.
The book includes copious footnotes, afternotes, and a thorough dissection of what (and who) is fictional in the book. Students of these subjects may find them useful. I found it disturbing that the author takes the position that came to believe in God, since one of his last lettters disproves it. The book was, overall, disappointing. Two stars for interesting me enough to read up on amicable numbers.
I received an ARC from NetGalley. This is a fair review.
She relates these stories in flashbacks, as she lies dying in a nursing home, to Ann Roth, an archivist at the Institute for Advanced Study, whose director tasks her with acquiring Godel's papers. Anna is not a stranger to the IAS, having been raised nearby in an atmosphere that rewarded the type of excellence it represented, and left her feeling unnecessary when she did not reach its level.
In alternating chapters, the women share stories from their lives - Adele's price for considering Anna's request. Adele talks about being a dancer in Vienna who marries the almost-unknowable Kurt. His lifestyle demands are specific and constricting; they are the matrix he requires to survive. Their lives are turned to chaos by the beginnings of World War II. Before they can escape Austria, they endure a terrifying encounter with Hitler's street thugs, who bully Kurt and equate mathematicians with Jewishness. A grueling trip across Siberia and the Pacific lands them in the United States, and, eventually, at Princeton. This is a fit destination for Gödel. Not so, initially, for Adele, whose English is weak and whose life is ruled by Kurt's demands.
Some of Adele's small victories are the bits of respect from her husband's genius friends, including Robert Oppenheimer and Albert Einstein. They become regulars at the Gödel house, where they discuss mathematics, physics, politics, and metaphysics while praising her cooking. Decades later, Adele has learned enough to repeat and discuss some of the concepts with Anna, as if to prove her own worth after many years of having been nearly invisible in her husband's world.
Anna's story? Almost irrelevant. She, too, is a handmaiden to the geniuses of the Institute. The details are not particularly compelling until she begins to take some chances, goaded by the still-vibrant Adele.
The weakness of Anna's story is compounded by the portions of Adele's that read like extended Cliff's notes for concepts that range from Gaussian curves, quantum mechanics versus Newtonian physics, set theory, variable infinities, and amicable numbers. The metaphysics delve into whether the existence of God can be proven through mathematics. Even a slightly-knowledgeable admirer of these subjects will lose the narrative thread while reading fictional discussions that alternate between the paradoxes inherent in time travel, and the excellence of Adele's cooking.
The book includes copious footnotes, afternotes, and a thorough dissection of what (and who) is fictional in the book. Students of these subjects may find them useful. I found it disturbing that the author takes the position that came to believe in God, since one of his last lettters disproves it. The book was, overall, disappointing. Two stars for interesting me enough to read up on amicable numbers.
I received an ARC from NetGalley. This is a fair review.
February 8, 2015
Another great read for The Tiny Book Club! What is it like to be the wife of a genius? Not that great.
Adele Porkert was working at a cabaret and living with her parents in Vienna. In 1928, she was beautiful and in her early 20s. Early one morning walking home from work she noticed a man walking slowly on the other side of the street. Alarmed because of rumors about gangs that snatched young women from the streets and sold them to brothels in Berlin, she bolted for her door.
But eventually, after seeing the same man at that same time and place for over two weeks, she decided he was harmless and became curious. Then one night he appeared with some friends at the cabaret. Adele met Kurt Godel, who was destined to become one of the most renowned mathematicians in the world. She finds him good looking and intriguing, so she seduces him and becomes his lover. Little does she know she has attached herself to a troubled genius. This is a fictional account of the marriage between them.
Yannick Grannec is French, this is her first novel, and she calls herself a math enthusiast. Researching Godel's life out of curiosity, she came across some scanty information about his wife and wanted to know how a woman could have loved such a difficult (paranoid, anorectic, depressed) man for fifty years. In an interview with her publisher she gives an account of writing the novel and the challenges she faced rendering concepts of advanced mathematical theories into simple words.
The book is a fascinating study of love, devotion, and the painful interaction of two individuals driven from their beloved Vienna by Hitler's antisemitism and forced to assimilate into academic life in Princeton, NJ. Yes, my home town!
I grew up always aware of Princeton University, the Institute for Advanced Study (where Godel researched and taught) and the high intellectual status of my town. Einstein, Oppenheimer, Godel, and many others of genius proportions, all featured in the novel, lived and taught there, contributing to a sort of Golden Age of science in America in the 1940s and 1950s, though that was tarnished by the atom bomb. It was a time and place where great brains developed the foundations of the modern world as we know it in all its technical wonders as well as horrors.
It was not a good time for women. Adele was not lacking in intelligence and was well endowed with energy and courage. She poured all of that into Kurt and grew old, fat, tired, and discouraged. A woman today has to wonder how she could have been so devoted to a man whose mental difficulties overtook him as his genius burned away. (It is a well documented fact that most math geniuses burn out early.) Godel became more and more eccentric, more of a hypochondriac, subject to depression and he refused to eat.
Because of a lack of biographical data about Adele, we will never really know but Yannick Grannec supposed a probable story of a relationship based on love, commitment, and mutual admiration even as these two drove each other to distraction. They are portrayed as a couple who needed each other, he for Adele's caring and protection, she for the fascination of his esoteric mind. Would they have been happier if they had parted? They never did until Godel died and then Adele was devastated. She lived on still caring for his destiny and proper place in the world.
I found the novel believable, entertaining, and informative. I loved that she called Adele a goddess. Now I need to find and read about some female geniuses and the men who took care of them.
Adele Porkert was working at a cabaret and living with her parents in Vienna. In 1928, she was beautiful and in her early 20s. Early one morning walking home from work she noticed a man walking slowly on the other side of the street. Alarmed because of rumors about gangs that snatched young women from the streets and sold them to brothels in Berlin, she bolted for her door.
But eventually, after seeing the same man at that same time and place for over two weeks, she decided he was harmless and became curious. Then one night he appeared with some friends at the cabaret. Adele met Kurt Godel, who was destined to become one of the most renowned mathematicians in the world. She finds him good looking and intriguing, so she seduces him and becomes his lover. Little does she know she has attached herself to a troubled genius. This is a fictional account of the marriage between them.
Yannick Grannec is French, this is her first novel, and she calls herself a math enthusiast. Researching Godel's life out of curiosity, she came across some scanty information about his wife and wanted to know how a woman could have loved such a difficult (paranoid, anorectic, depressed) man for fifty years. In an interview with her publisher she gives an account of writing the novel and the challenges she faced rendering concepts of advanced mathematical theories into simple words.
The book is a fascinating study of love, devotion, and the painful interaction of two individuals driven from their beloved Vienna by Hitler's antisemitism and forced to assimilate into academic life in Princeton, NJ. Yes, my home town!
I grew up always aware of Princeton University, the Institute for Advanced Study (where Godel researched and taught) and the high intellectual status of my town. Einstein, Oppenheimer, Godel, and many others of genius proportions, all featured in the novel, lived and taught there, contributing to a sort of Golden Age of science in America in the 1940s and 1950s, though that was tarnished by the atom bomb. It was a time and place where great brains developed the foundations of the modern world as we know it in all its technical wonders as well as horrors.
It was not a good time for women. Adele was not lacking in intelligence and was well endowed with energy and courage. She poured all of that into Kurt and grew old, fat, tired, and discouraged. A woman today has to wonder how she could have been so devoted to a man whose mental difficulties overtook him as his genius burned away. (It is a well documented fact that most math geniuses burn out early.) Godel became more and more eccentric, more of a hypochondriac, subject to depression and he refused to eat.
Because of a lack of biographical data about Adele, we will never really know but Yannick Grannec supposed a probable story of a relationship based on love, commitment, and mutual admiration even as these two drove each other to distraction. They are portrayed as a couple who needed each other, he for Adele's caring and protection, she for the fascination of his esoteric mind. Would they have been happier if they had parted? They never did until Godel died and then Adele was devastated. She lived on still caring for his destiny and proper place in the world.
I found the novel believable, entertaining, and informative. I loved that she called Adele a goddess. Now I need to find and read about some female geniuses and the men who took care of them.
November 14, 2024
Μια ευχάριστη έκπληξη! Παρά τις κάποιες ατέλειες, έπλασε μια ηρωίδα αξιομνημόνευτη, μια αφανή ηρωίδα από αυτές που υπηρετούν τους περιώνυμους της Ιστορίας δίνοντάς τους την ευκαιρία να φτάσουν στο απόγειο της δημιουργικότητάς τους. Είναι μικρός θρίαμβος αυτός; Ίσως όχι και τόσο μικρός...
Υ.Γ. Ας σημειώσω και τη εξαιρετική γνώση του υλικού της, τόσο του καθαρά εξειδικευμένου επιστημονικού, όσο και του ιστορικοκοινωνικού και βιογραφικού.
3.5 αστέρια!
Υ.Γ. Ας σημειώσω και τη εξαιρετική γνώση του υλικού της, τόσο του καθαρά εξειδικευμένου επιστημονικού, όσο και του ιστορικοκοινωνικού και βιογραφικού.
3.5 αστέρια!
February 14, 2017
I listened to this at work while I was simultaneously reading Tamar by Mal Peet at home. Both stories are about WWII, one based on factual people (this one) and one based on factual events (that one)
That one intrigued me from the first chapter. This one got pretty boring pretty quickly. It’s about Adele Goedel, Kurt Goedel’s mistress, then wife, who left Vienna in the war and lived in Princeton among Einstein, Oppenheimer, and other sciencey geniuses.
She hated it, she grew to hate her husband, and she had to live in a nursing home after he died.
Anna Roth is a journalist who is tasked with finding Goedel’s secret papers and attempts to do so by visiting Adele in the nursing home. What starts as an interview with a bitter, old woman turns into a life story and something like a friendship, but with the secret papers hovering in the background at all times.
Psychology comes into play and there’s math banter and I got so bored.
The readers were pretty good and did a fair job sharing Adele’s accent but even that couldn't pull me from the slump I fell into while listening to this.
That one intrigued me from the first chapter. This one got pretty boring pretty quickly. It’s about Adele Goedel, Kurt Goedel’s mistress, then wife, who left Vienna in the war and lived in Princeton among Einstein, Oppenheimer, and other sciencey geniuses.
She hated it, she grew to hate her husband, and she had to live in a nursing home after he died.
Anna Roth is a journalist who is tasked with finding Goedel’s secret papers and attempts to do so by visiting Adele in the nursing home. What starts as an interview with a bitter, old woman turns into a life story and something like a friendship, but with the secret papers hovering in the background at all times.
Psychology comes into play and there’s math banter and I got so bored.
The readers were pretty good and did a fair job sharing Adele’s accent but even that couldn't pull me from the slump I fell into while listening to this.
February 9, 2015
I liked this, but then I can't help but enjoy a novel about the history of science that involves Einstein and Kurt Gödel in conversation, set around wartime Vienna and Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study, with Oppenheimer and John von Neumann as supporting "characters," and big doses of scientists' gossip thrown in. The present-day storyline centering on the character Anna felt like scaffolding for the rest, and as the book continued I got the increasing sense that the author was working down a checklist to include all pertinent mathematical theories, historical events, and biographical information in the lives of Kurt and Adele. But still a pleasing read on several levels.
August 20, 2016
4,5
Adoré ce roman! Rien de moins!
Adoré ce roman! Rien de moins!
October 23, 2015
Une documentaliste, Anna, est chargée par l'IAS (Institute for Advanced Study) de Princeton de récupérer les archives de Kurt Gödel, son Nachlass. Pour ce faire, elle va devoir amadouer le cerbère qui les garde, Adèle la veuve du célèbre logicien et mathématicien.
Le récit se déroule sur deux plans temporels. Le présent relate les relations entre Adèle et Anna et la vie privée de cette dernière — pas très réjouissante. Le passé, au travers des souvenirs d'Adèle, raconte une vie aux côtés du génie Kurt Gödel — pas très réjouissante. Les deux récits ne sont pas d'un intérêt égal.
Le premier est très convenu et finalement peu intéressant. Le dialogue entre une vielle acariâtre et une jeune mal dans sa peau toutes deux confrontées à des intellectuels est un peu fatiguant à la longue. L'angle d'attaque est intéressant et original mais il se transforme en une partie bien trop longue où l'on croit revoir Tatie Danielle — en moins drôle.
Le second, consacré à Gödel, est bien plus réussi. On découvre la vie de ce personnage hors-norme qui s'est promené toute sa vie au bord du gouffre de la folie pour finir par y sombrer complètement. Pourtant, en monomaniaque, sa vie n'a pas été très rock ’n’ roll elle a été consacrée toute entière à sa passion pour une discipline dont la plupart des gens ne perçoivent même pas l'intérêt. Evidemment, l'histoire de ce couple que tout oppose est touchante: le génie et la fille de cabaret. Ce long naufrage à côté du trou noir Kurt Gödel qui a aspiré peu à peu la vie d'une fille qui débordait pourtant d'énergie pour la laisser seule, dévastée. Enfin, le point d'orgue du livre, la partie la plus enthousiasmante, est le récit des années de relatif bonheur vécues pendant la grande période Princeton. A cette époque il était possible de croiser sur le campus de l'université quelques-uns des grands génies du XXème siècle : Oppenheimer, Dirac, von Neumann, Nash, Einstein et Gödel. La guerre les avait rassemblés. Le livre dépeint notamment un Albert Einstein rayonnant, exubérant et distrait l'exact opposé de son grand ami l'ombrageux, taciturne et maniaque Kurt Gödel.
Très enthousiaste lorsque j'ai acheté ce livre, je ne cache pas une légère déception. http://www.aubonroman.com/2012/12/la-...
Le récit se déroule sur deux plans temporels. Le présent relate les relations entre Adèle et Anna et la vie privée de cette dernière — pas très réjouissante. Le passé, au travers des souvenirs d'Adèle, raconte une vie aux côtés du génie Kurt Gödel — pas très réjouissante. Les deux récits ne sont pas d'un intérêt égal.
Le premier est très convenu et finalement peu intéressant. Le dialogue entre une vielle acariâtre et une jeune mal dans sa peau toutes deux confrontées à des intellectuels est un peu fatiguant à la longue. L'angle d'attaque est intéressant et original mais il se transforme en une partie bien trop longue où l'on croit revoir Tatie Danielle — en moins drôle.
Mon ultime luxe est de proférer des horreurs. Ceux qui apprécient prennent cela pour de la sagesse, les autres pour de la sénilité.
Le second, consacré à Gödel, est bien plus réussi. On découvre la vie de ce personnage hors-norme qui s'est promené toute sa vie au bord du gouffre de la folie pour finir par y sombrer complètement. Pourtant, en monomaniaque, sa vie n'a pas été très rock ’n’ roll elle a été consacrée toute entière à sa passion pour une discipline dont la plupart des gens ne perçoivent même pas l'intérêt. Evidemment, l'histoire de ce couple que tout oppose est touchante: le génie et la fille de cabaret. Ce long naufrage à côté du trou noir Kurt Gödel qui a aspiré peu à peu la vie d'une fille qui débordait pourtant d'énergie pour la laisser seule, dévastée. Enfin, le point d'orgue du livre, la partie la plus enthousiasmante, est le récit des années de relatif bonheur vécues pendant la grande période Princeton. A cette époque il était possible de croiser sur le campus de l'université quelques-uns des grands génies du XXème siècle : Oppenheimer, Dirac, von Neumann, Nash, Einstein et Gödel. La guerre les avait rassemblés. Le livre dépeint notamment un Albert Einstein rayonnant, exubérant et distrait l'exact opposé de son grand ami l'ombrageux, taciturne et maniaque Kurt Gödel.
Seules deux choses sont infinies, Adèle. L'univers et la stupidité de l'homme. Et encore, je ne suis pas certain de l'infinité de l'univers !
Très enthousiaste lorsque j'ai acheté ce livre, je ne cache pas une légère déception. http://www.aubonroman.com/2012/12/la-...
November 11, 2016
The author used successfully the Fiction genre to write the non-fiction story about the lives of Adèle and Kurt Godel. Kurt Godel was one of the most brilliant Mathematician mind of the first half of the 20th century and Adèle was his childless housewife and civil servant during their entire lives and marriages. The author wrote alternatively non-fiction stories about their lives from the moment they first met in Austria (1920's) to their their death in Princeton neighborhood (late 1970's) and fiction stories about the interview of Adèle Godel the year before she dies. I assume that the author didn't forget anything major from their biographies as he related everything from their lives in Austria before WWII, their escape from Nazi regime, their arrival in the USA, and their lives in Princeton where Kurt was an eminent Mathematician at the same time than the Great Albert Einstein. Their lives are narrated from the point of view of Adèle who sacrificed/dedicated her life to an eccentric, madman, and genius Kurt. I really liked this novel because I learned a lot about Kurt Godel, whom I admit I didn't know of his existence before reading this novel, and I learned about Princeton University and its community of scientists. The author keeps the story alert and moving between each period he's writing about. He makes the reader want to read more. Unfortunately for the author and the novel, Kurt Godel's life is not as inspiring and attractive story than John Nash's, whose life story was shown in the great Hollywood movie "A beautiful mind" A Beautiful Mindstarring Russel Crowe. Adèle's life is also not a role model to today's women. Her life is the exact opposite of Marie Curie, who was an educated scientist, the equal to her husband Pierre Curie and all other genius scientists of the time, and a mother of 2 children. The novel "Marie Curie prend un amant"Marie Curie prend un amant , which I read prior to this one, is a much more interesting reading. I do recommend reading this novel, but you're not going to find it better than other biographies of well known genius. I still haven't read a biography of Albert Einstein. Anyone has a book recommendation for me?
May 30, 2015
I listened to the audiobook, mostly, but I did read some. I think that if I had read it exclusively, I may not have liked it as much. The quality of the audiobook was excellent. There were two narrators, one for Adele’s story and one for Anna’s. I enjoyed the mathematic discussions and explanations in the voice of Kurt Gӧdel, but I doubt I could have gotten into the math aspect of the book if I had to use my imagination to conjure the discussions. I probably would have gotten frustrated and just skimmed, but hearing the discussions, I felt like Adele must have felt. I didn’t quite understand what they were saying, but I felt like I was on the cusp. Comprehension was just outside my grasp. It brought me closer, I think, to what the author, was trying to express about Adele’s experience living with Kurt.
To me, this love story was sad, but I didn’t have a whole lot of sympathy for Adele. Though, I was intrigued by her story. I really liked her character as an ornery, old woman. Einstein was the most interesting supporting character. Anna was lackluster. For me, Anna was just an avenue to get to Adele’s story.
I thought that the first half of this book was much better than the second. Once the couple moved to the United States, The Goddess lost momentum. By far, the biggest flaw is that we never saw Adele fall in love with Kurt. One chapter, they were casually dating. The next, she had already given herself heart and soul to him. I just didn’t understand it. We were given absolutely no reason for why she fell in love with him in the first place. I didn't understand Adele, but I don't think Grannec completely understood her either.
I’ve written a few criticisms, but I don’t want to give the impression that I didn’t like this book. I enjoyed The Goddess. I love historical fiction, and it provided fascinating glimpse into the world of the most brilliant men of the 20th century. I knew a little about Einstein’s personal life, but before I read this, I might not have been even able to tell you that Gӧdel was a mathematician. Learning about the historical Gӧdel was new and interesting to me and putting him in the context of a relationship with his wife brought a degree of accessibility to someone who must have been an enigma to the people who knew him.
To me, this love story was sad, but I didn’t have a whole lot of sympathy for Adele. Though, I was intrigued by her story. I really liked her character as an ornery, old woman. Einstein was the most interesting supporting character. Anna was lackluster. For me, Anna was just an avenue to get to Adele’s story.
I thought that the first half of this book was much better than the second. Once the couple moved to the United States, The Goddess lost momentum. By far, the biggest flaw is that we never saw Adele fall in love with Kurt. One chapter, they were casually dating. The next, she had already given herself heart and soul to him. I just didn’t understand it. We were given absolutely no reason for why she fell in love with him in the first place. I didn't understand Adele, but I don't think Grannec completely understood her either.
I’ve written a few criticisms, but I don’t want to give the impression that I didn’t like this book. I enjoyed The Goddess. I love historical fiction, and it provided fascinating glimpse into the world of the most brilliant men of the 20th century. I knew a little about Einstein’s personal life, but before I read this, I might not have been even able to tell you that Gӧdel was a mathematician. Learning about the historical Gӧdel was new and interesting to me and putting him in the context of a relationship with his wife brought a degree of accessibility to someone who must have been an enigma to the people who knew him.
Read
August 9, 2017J'ai lu les 143 premières pages. Je ne noterai donc pas ce livre mais je voudrais expliquer ma défaite face à lui.
Je n'étais pas particulièrement stimulée par le thème, mais dès les premières pages la lecture de faits historiques, romancés et du point de vue de cette femme très intéressante, m'ont beaucoup séduit. Je me suis laissée porter par ce récit qui, bien que fictionnel, m'apparaissait comme une brèche de l'Histoire. Ca marchait.
/ attention spoilers /
J'ai d'abord un peu regretté que les échanges entre Anna et Adèle soient un peu fragiles : Anna insiste et hop Adèle accepte de la revoir... bon, j'ai laissé passer en me disant que là n'était pas le sujet, que nous nous concentrerions sur l'histoire d'Adèle, qu'Anna était un faire-valoir et que leur relation ne servirait qu'à amorcer le témoignage d'Adèle.
Et puis le chapitre 13 arrive.
En trois pages on ingurgite un échange professionnel (?) avec son patron "qui se touche le sexe en la regardant partir" (hein ?), ils s'y parlent à grand coup de cliché (la jeune femme redevable, et le patron méchant qui abuse d'elle sans subtilité) on y apprend des choses sans détours sur des sujets sensibles balancés sans aucun contexte (l'impression que "scénaristiquement vous avez besoin de savoir ça pour plus tard") et pour finir on devrait également intégrer de nouveaux personnages dans la vie d'Anna... La trahison totale. J'étais furibonde !
En trois pages le personnage explose. On la charge d'un passé et de relations complexes, sans aucune subtilité.
J'ai continué à lire malgré cet incident, mais le mal était fait. Anna m'apparaissait comme un personnage en carton-pâte à qui l'on donne une histoire au fur et à mesure.
Quel dommage. Je me suis vraiment prise au jeu de cette fiction entre Adèle et Kurt Gödel. Mais le personnage qui gravite autour d'elle n'est pour moi pas crédible. Je ne crois pas en cette Anna. Elle me semble sortir de nulle-part et se contre-dire sans arrêt.
Je n'étais pas particulièrement stimulée par le thème, mais dès les premières pages la lecture de faits historiques, romancés et du point de vue de cette femme très intéressante, m'ont beaucoup séduit. Je me suis laissée porter par ce récit qui, bien que fictionnel, m'apparaissait comme une brèche de l'Histoire. Ca marchait.
/ attention spoilers /
J'ai d'abord un peu regretté que les échanges entre Anna et Adèle soient un peu fragiles : Anna insiste et hop Adèle accepte de la revoir... bon, j'ai laissé passer en me disant que là n'était pas le sujet, que nous nous concentrerions sur l'histoire d'Adèle, qu'Anna était un faire-valoir et que leur relation ne servirait qu'à amorcer le témoignage d'Adèle.
Et puis le chapitre 13 arrive.
En trois pages on ingurgite un échange professionnel (?) avec son patron "qui se touche le sexe en la regardant partir" (hein ?), ils s'y parlent à grand coup de cliché (la jeune femme redevable, et le patron méchant qui abuse d'elle sans subtilité) on y apprend des choses sans détours sur des sujets sensibles balancés sans aucun contexte (l'impression que "scénaristiquement vous avez besoin de savoir ça pour plus tard") et pour finir on devrait également intégrer de nouveaux personnages dans la vie d'Anna... La trahison totale. J'étais furibonde !
En trois pages le personnage explose. On la charge d'un passé et de relations complexes, sans aucune subtilité.
J'ai continué à lire malgré cet incident, mais le mal était fait. Anna m'apparaissait comme un personnage en carton-pâte à qui l'on donne une histoire au fur et à mesure.
Quel dommage. Je me suis vraiment prise au jeu de cette fiction entre Adèle et Kurt Gödel. Mais le personnage qui gravite autour d'elle n'est pour moi pas crédible. Je ne crois pas en cette Anna. Elle me semble sortir de nulle-part et se contre-dire sans arrêt.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 18, 2017
This was just ok for me. I love Kurt Gödel, which is why I thought I would like this book. From the start though, it just felt so forced. The author asked the reader to believe so many things that were hard to believe- e.g. Gödel's boring and non-intellectual wife Adele was, in reality, quite intersting. That just didn't ring true. There was one part that was very believable and very fabulous in which , Adele put a pink flamingo on the lawn in protest of the horrible attitudes of the intellectual elites who constantly looked down on her. Best part of the whole book because it seemed to be a metaphor for her entire life. His family had never accepted her. The academics at Princeton never accepted her. She was alone most of her life, all so that she could be close to a mentally ill genius with whom she fell in love. One day she was fed up with it all -- being his nursemaid, being talked down to, being looked at with disdain, being ousted from all the social circles -- and said, fuck it, and put a pink flamingo in the garden. Of course people could not believe the famous genius Gödel had a pink flamingo. How tacky! When Adele was asked, "What did Gödel think of having a pink flamingo in the garden?," she replied, "Did he even know we had a garden?" That entire story was so masterful. I wish the whole book had been like that.
I also never cared about the other main character, the person who was visiting Adele in order to secure his private papers. The author used a very contrived method of connecting Adele and the researcher, Anna. Anna supposedly thought about her beloved grandmother and Adele had been close to an Anna in her past. It just felt so forced and had the effect of making me want to stop reading. When the author threw away contrivances, she churned out some great writing. It just wasn't enough to make the book enjoyable.
I also never cared about the other main character, the person who was visiting Adele in order to secure his private papers. The author used a very contrived method of connecting Adele and the researcher, Anna. Anna supposedly thought about her beloved grandmother and Adele had been close to an Anna in her past. It just felt so forced and had the effect of making me want to stop reading. When the author threw away contrivances, she churned out some great writing. It just wasn't enough to make the book enjoyable.
October 3, 2015
Una historia de genio y dependencia. De una mujer fuerte y una amistad, y una historia de amor.
Opinión completa
Opinión completa
December 31, 2015
Beautifully imagined and fictionalized story of the much put upon wife of Kurt Godel. The author did an amazing job giving life to Adele. I can't even begin to imagine what it must have been like to research this story. Loved it.
October 13, 2014
“Can you prove love?” – Self-sacrifice for a mathematical genius (Vienna, Austria; Institute of Advanced Study (IAS), Princeton, NJ; Maine; PA; 1928-1980): Mathematicians strive for simple, elegant proofs. How ironic and sad that one of the great mathematical minds of the twentieth century, a logician from Austria, Kurt Gödel, had such a complicated and inelegant fifty-year “love story” with a Viennese cabaret dancer he had absolutely “nothing in common” with, Adele Thusnelda Porkert.
Mathematicians seek “truth and beauty.” But there’s no “self-evident truths” in The Goddess of Small Victories, except that the genius who sought beauty in his “Incompleteness Theorem” was an incomplete man. Instead, there’s an impressive and engrossing blending of historical facts, personal truths, logical conjectures, and creative storytelling that does not trivialize weighty math and science concepts. This is a daring historical novel that keeps you intellectually on your toes.
The Gödel's fifty years is relayed to us at the end of Adele’s life, when she’s widowed, 80, and a feisty resident at a nursing home in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, not too far from the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton, where most of their “love story” takes place.
Debut author, Yannick Grannec, a fine arts professor in France, deftly paints a stark portrayal of the couple’s extreme differences: He a fragile, elegant dresser who never laughed; she sports “wild gypsy hair” and loves music (“What’s the point of living if you don’t know how to dance?”). He a selfish, unaffectionate man with a deeply troubled psyche (twice hospitalized for anorexia, psychotic episodes, depression, exhaustion); she a tower of strength who’d “lift mountains” if need be. Tragically, the woman fond of sweets, flowers, colorful paintings, and movies sacrificed everything for Kurt, including family and citizenship, ending up with a life likened to a “black-and-white film.”
Sometimes the smart prose is so mathematically relatable as in: “Life is an equation. What you gain on one side is taken away on the other.” But mostly, if you try to grasp the heavier mathematical logic, philosophies, and physics bantered about in the dialogue of the brainy men peopling the novel – and in the extensive, supplemental endnotes – the prose will feel wildly inaccessible. That is beside the point – or precisely the point. These commentaries serve the reader emotionally well. They bring you viscerally close to the frustration, anger, condescension, and loneliness Adele must have felt much of the time around her intensely single-minded husband. (Once, at a bucolic inn in Maine, he graced her by attempting to explain cardinal/ordinal/natural numbers, integers, and infinity. The mood was spoiled as soon as she asked what he sees when she sees the beautiful ocean. His idea of beauty: “A field of wave interactions”!)
Throughout, Kurt Gödel feels terribly inaccessible and, frankly, terribly unlikable. Adele may be ornery, but who can blame her. A truth is she intrigues us. How did she endure a lifetime with this egocentric, psychologically impaired man who “took care of nothing?” She mothered and nursed a paranoid man who refused to eat and touch her. A man so obsessed with smells, cleanliness, weather, and afraid of making mistakes he “preferred keeping silent to being in error … unwilling to make a misstep, he would forget to take any step at all.”
Don’t worry if you don’t care about “geeky factoids” or the “grandiose mechanism of the universe.” What we care about are the accessible, universal matters of the heart. The prose has a pathos that touches us, for we can’t help but wonder when are we asking too much of any one human being to sacrifice themselves for another?
This affecting novel is narrated in two compelling female voices that alternate between chapters that track the fifty years. The cantankerous voice is Adele’s; the other belongs to Anna Roth, a 30-year-old archivist working at the prestigious Institute. She’s tasked to get Adele to turn over the archives of the “mythical recluse” for the betterment of mankind. Up until now, Mrs. Gödel has adamantly refused. These two women encounter each other around the same age Adele met Kurt, who to be fair was “charming” back then. “His eyes, an impossible blue, were full of greatness.”
Anna’s life parallels some of Adele’s history: loneliness (her intellectual, self-absorbed parents dismiss her as mediocre); involved with an eccentric fellow absorbed in mathematics; surrounded by geniuses. She’s provocative too, so her ability to match wits with the elder woman opens the door to an evolving relationship. Don’t expect Adele’s caustic tongue to be enchanted prose! Her elegance is “self-assurance.” Well-practiced in reading minds, do expect she’ll let her guard down to offer Anna words of wisdom on pursuing pleasure and happiness. Whether Anna succeeds at her original tasking becomes almost beside the point too.
The challenging assignment gives Anna purpose. She doesn’t “claim to understand him” but she knows Kurt’s German shorthand, Gabelsberger. For once, Anna feels she’s in the “right place at the right time.” Paradoxically, not the case for Kurt. He was the wrong man at the wrong time. His paranoia was intensified by the oppressive historical times, which the author takes us through with painful honesty: the Nazi’s were “burning books, banning music, closing the cafes, and turning off the lights in Vienna,” yet the Gödels remained blind to (Kurt) or ignored (Adele) the political landscape, since they weren’t Jewish, until they no longer could; The Manhattan Project; McCarthyism; and the assassination of a beloved President.
While the author proclaims she’s an “enthusiast of mathematics,” the odds are most of us are not, which adds to the courageousness of her novel. Because its characters are famous, and not quite-as-famous, mathematicians and physicists who came together at a unique period in history when intellectuals were escaping Europe – and they found refuge at a “quaint cocoon” – a “scientific Mount Olympus” – in a high-brow university town where their only “assignment was to think,” the reader gets an exceptional chance to peak into the personas of exceptional minds.
Unquestionably, the most likable of the brilliant bunch is Albert Einstein, despite what you’ve heard about his flawed personal relationships. One of Kurt’s very few friends, Einstein was the “personification of friendship.” Their daily “arm-in-arm” walks around the Institute were legendary. Grannec’s comparisons of the two are delightful: Kurt was “closemouthed and the other charismatic.” Albert with his “tousled hair,” Kurt the impeccable dresser. Einstein “wore himself out fighting battles for everyone else, whereas Kurt had never fought for anyone but himself.” Albert with his “thunderclap laugh” like Groucho Marx; Kurt the stony Buster Keaton. Even the analysis of their disciplines is catchy: “Mathematics is the skeleton, where physics is the flesh.” Noteworthy is that the unemotional Kurt upon meeting Einstein found it an “unforgettable experience.” Einstein’s profound concerns about the military’s dominance over science; that his discoveries led to the atomic bomb – Peace and Humanity – are unforgettable.
To his credit, Albert was also Adele’s friend. So, was Wolfgang Pauli, father of quantum mechanics, who consoled Adele that it “can’t be easy on a day-to-day basis” to be married to a man who lost his “ability to see the whole.” Pauli, like Albert, valued perspective. The “one absolute in a world like ours is humor.”
Some other exceptional minds you’ll meet along the way: Robert Oppenheimer, “Oppie,” a nuclear physicist who directed the Institute after he led The Manhattan Project; Oskar Morgenstern, an economist best known for game theory; and John von Neumann, whose mathematical work greatly influenced the development of computers and computer science.
Meanwhile, after 432 thoughtful pages, the central genius character still remains elusive. I think that is also the point. Did Adele feel that her calling was to ease his “obstacles so he could address his calling?” Consider herself lucky to have a “mission,” as her Vienna friend once advised? Or, as the sub-title suggests, she truly loved him? Since we’re told this is a “love story,” she must have. Our proof.
Lorraine (EnchantedProse.com)
Mathematicians seek “truth and beauty.” But there’s no “self-evident truths” in The Goddess of Small Victories, except that the genius who sought beauty in his “Incompleteness Theorem” was an incomplete man. Instead, there’s an impressive and engrossing blending of historical facts, personal truths, logical conjectures, and creative storytelling that does not trivialize weighty math and science concepts. This is a daring historical novel that keeps you intellectually on your toes.
The Gödel's fifty years is relayed to us at the end of Adele’s life, when she’s widowed, 80, and a feisty resident at a nursing home in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, not too far from the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton, where most of their “love story” takes place.
Debut author, Yannick Grannec, a fine arts professor in France, deftly paints a stark portrayal of the couple’s extreme differences: He a fragile, elegant dresser who never laughed; she sports “wild gypsy hair” and loves music (“What’s the point of living if you don’t know how to dance?”). He a selfish, unaffectionate man with a deeply troubled psyche (twice hospitalized for anorexia, psychotic episodes, depression, exhaustion); she a tower of strength who’d “lift mountains” if need be. Tragically, the woman fond of sweets, flowers, colorful paintings, and movies sacrificed everything for Kurt, including family and citizenship, ending up with a life likened to a “black-and-white film.”
Sometimes the smart prose is so mathematically relatable as in: “Life is an equation. What you gain on one side is taken away on the other.” But mostly, if you try to grasp the heavier mathematical logic, philosophies, and physics bantered about in the dialogue of the brainy men peopling the novel – and in the extensive, supplemental endnotes – the prose will feel wildly inaccessible. That is beside the point – or precisely the point. These commentaries serve the reader emotionally well. They bring you viscerally close to the frustration, anger, condescension, and loneliness Adele must have felt much of the time around her intensely single-minded husband. (Once, at a bucolic inn in Maine, he graced her by attempting to explain cardinal/ordinal/natural numbers, integers, and infinity. The mood was spoiled as soon as she asked what he sees when she sees the beautiful ocean. His idea of beauty: “A field of wave interactions”!)
Throughout, Kurt Gödel feels terribly inaccessible and, frankly, terribly unlikable. Adele may be ornery, but who can blame her. A truth is she intrigues us. How did she endure a lifetime with this egocentric, psychologically impaired man who “took care of nothing?” She mothered and nursed a paranoid man who refused to eat and touch her. A man so obsessed with smells, cleanliness, weather, and afraid of making mistakes he “preferred keeping silent to being in error … unwilling to make a misstep, he would forget to take any step at all.”
Don’t worry if you don’t care about “geeky factoids” or the “grandiose mechanism of the universe.” What we care about are the accessible, universal matters of the heart. The prose has a pathos that touches us, for we can’t help but wonder when are we asking too much of any one human being to sacrifice themselves for another?
This affecting novel is narrated in two compelling female voices that alternate between chapters that track the fifty years. The cantankerous voice is Adele’s; the other belongs to Anna Roth, a 30-year-old archivist working at the prestigious Institute. She’s tasked to get Adele to turn over the archives of the “mythical recluse” for the betterment of mankind. Up until now, Mrs. Gödel has adamantly refused. These two women encounter each other around the same age Adele met Kurt, who to be fair was “charming” back then. “His eyes, an impossible blue, were full of greatness.”
Anna’s life parallels some of Adele’s history: loneliness (her intellectual, self-absorbed parents dismiss her as mediocre); involved with an eccentric fellow absorbed in mathematics; surrounded by geniuses. She’s provocative too, so her ability to match wits with the elder woman opens the door to an evolving relationship. Don’t expect Adele’s caustic tongue to be enchanted prose! Her elegance is “self-assurance.” Well-practiced in reading minds, do expect she’ll let her guard down to offer Anna words of wisdom on pursuing pleasure and happiness. Whether Anna succeeds at her original tasking becomes almost beside the point too.
The challenging assignment gives Anna purpose. She doesn’t “claim to understand him” but she knows Kurt’s German shorthand, Gabelsberger. For once, Anna feels she’s in the “right place at the right time.” Paradoxically, not the case for Kurt. He was the wrong man at the wrong time. His paranoia was intensified by the oppressive historical times, which the author takes us through with painful honesty: the Nazi’s were “burning books, banning music, closing the cafes, and turning off the lights in Vienna,” yet the Gödels remained blind to (Kurt) or ignored (Adele) the political landscape, since they weren’t Jewish, until they no longer could; The Manhattan Project; McCarthyism; and the assassination of a beloved President.
While the author proclaims she’s an “enthusiast of mathematics,” the odds are most of us are not, which adds to the courageousness of her novel. Because its characters are famous, and not quite-as-famous, mathematicians and physicists who came together at a unique period in history when intellectuals were escaping Europe – and they found refuge at a “quaint cocoon” – a “scientific Mount Olympus” – in a high-brow university town where their only “assignment was to think,” the reader gets an exceptional chance to peak into the personas of exceptional minds.
Unquestionably, the most likable of the brilliant bunch is Albert Einstein, despite what you’ve heard about his flawed personal relationships. One of Kurt’s very few friends, Einstein was the “personification of friendship.” Their daily “arm-in-arm” walks around the Institute were legendary. Grannec’s comparisons of the two are delightful: Kurt was “closemouthed and the other charismatic.” Albert with his “tousled hair,” Kurt the impeccable dresser. Einstein “wore himself out fighting battles for everyone else, whereas Kurt had never fought for anyone but himself.” Albert with his “thunderclap laugh” like Groucho Marx; Kurt the stony Buster Keaton. Even the analysis of their disciplines is catchy: “Mathematics is the skeleton, where physics is the flesh.” Noteworthy is that the unemotional Kurt upon meeting Einstein found it an “unforgettable experience.” Einstein’s profound concerns about the military’s dominance over science; that his discoveries led to the atomic bomb – Peace and Humanity – are unforgettable.
To his credit, Albert was also Adele’s friend. So, was Wolfgang Pauli, father of quantum mechanics, who consoled Adele that it “can’t be easy on a day-to-day basis” to be married to a man who lost his “ability to see the whole.” Pauli, like Albert, valued perspective. The “one absolute in a world like ours is humor.”
Some other exceptional minds you’ll meet along the way: Robert Oppenheimer, “Oppie,” a nuclear physicist who directed the Institute after he led The Manhattan Project; Oskar Morgenstern, an economist best known for game theory; and John von Neumann, whose mathematical work greatly influenced the development of computers and computer science.
Meanwhile, after 432 thoughtful pages, the central genius character still remains elusive. I think that is also the point. Did Adele feel that her calling was to ease his “obstacles so he could address his calling?” Consider herself lucky to have a “mission,” as her Vienna friend once advised? Or, as the sub-title suggests, she truly loved him? Since we’re told this is a “love story,” she must have. Our proof.
Lorraine (EnchantedProse.com)
February 11, 2018
With a cast of characters that includes Albert Einstein it is hard to imagine a novel more laden with history and the evolution of the world as we have come to know it.
Spanning continents and world wars the story winds it's way through the backdrop of a marriage between two seemingly incompatible people who nevertheless need each other on levels that exceed our understanding.
Although I often got bogged down with the intricacies of mathematics and formulaic descriptions, I enjoyed the inside view of the workings of a mind that sees only in x+y=z ways.
Wisdom imparted and bold imagery brought me to my knees on more than one occasion during the reading of this novel. There is much to learn here about the life we all choose to lead and the life we live forced upon us by circumstance.
Spanning continents and world wars the story winds it's way through the backdrop of a marriage between two seemingly incompatible people who nevertheless need each other on levels that exceed our understanding.
Although I often got bogged down with the intricacies of mathematics and formulaic descriptions, I enjoyed the inside view of the workings of a mind that sees only in x+y=z ways.
Wisdom imparted and bold imagery brought me to my knees on more than one occasion during the reading of this novel. There is much to learn here about the life we all choose to lead and the life we live forced upon us by circumstance.
July 3, 2017
Vienna to Princeton
The frontispiece of this intelligent and ambitious debut novel, by the French author Yannick Grannec, is a superb photograph of the mathematician Kurt Gödel by Arnold Newman. The great thinker is reduced to a small figure sitting formally in a wooden chair, dwarfed by the erased blackboard on the white wall behind him. It is impossible to decide whether it represents the purity of abstract thought, or the loneliness of a man who fears that the world will get too much for him if he does not keep tight control at all times. With considerable skill, Grannec steers her novel straight into the middle of this ambiguity, and the first third of the book at least is terrific.
The set-up is simple. It is 1980. Gödel himself has been dead for two years. His widow Adele is now in an old people's home in New Jersey. A young woman named Anna Roth, archivist at Princeton's celebrated Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), is sent to persuade her to give the mathematician's documents (the so-called "Nachlass") to the Institute. She meets a feisty old lady who is nobody's fool, and who indeed throws her out. But Anna goes back and gives as good as she gets. The odd-numbered chapters throughout the book show the developing relationship between the two women, eventually moving towards respect and even affection. Even-numbered chapters are Adele's own reminiscences of her life with the genius. Six years older than him, and not the least in his intellectual or social class, she was working in a Viennese nightclub when their relationship began, and soon became lover, housekeeper, mother, and nurse. The couple married ten years later and escaped to America when it became clear that Gödel (though not Jewish) could not continue to work under the Nazi regime. Kurt had already made two visits to Princeton, and it was there where he would finally settle.
All of this is told in the first 150 pages of the novel; there are 300 more to come. The setting for these is impressive. Princeton's IAS attracted the cream of European refugees, and Gödel is rubbing shoulders with fellow-giants such as Einstein, Von Neumann, and Oppenheim. But of these, only Einstein emerges as a clear character, with his unconventionality, kindness, and wit, a close friend to Gödel but unfortunately eclipsing his tightly-wound personality in all their scenes together.* The narrative take us through the time of the Manhattan Project, the McCarthy hearings, and beyond, but Kurt Gödel seems mainly peripheral to these events—just as, for her entire life, Adele Gödel remained on the distant periphery of her husband's thought.
There is another problem. Gödel was one of the greatest thinkers of the 20th century—read Douglas Hofstadter's monumental Gödel, Escher, Bach if you want to know more—but his ideas are so abstract that it virtually requires a separate language to try to explain them. Grannec feels she has to try, but it takes her into dialogues such as this, where Adele is trying to understand by means of simple analogies, and Kurt is talking over her head (and over mine too):
======
*
Einstein famously said he went to his office at the Institute for Advanced Study “just to have the privilege of walking home with Kurt Gödel."
The frontispiece of this intelligent and ambitious debut novel, by the French author Yannick Grannec, is a superb photograph of the mathematician Kurt Gödel by Arnold Newman. The great thinker is reduced to a small figure sitting formally in a wooden chair, dwarfed by the erased blackboard on the white wall behind him. It is impossible to decide whether it represents the purity of abstract thought, or the loneliness of a man who fears that the world will get too much for him if he does not keep tight control at all times. With considerable skill, Grannec steers her novel straight into the middle of this ambiguity, and the first third of the book at least is terrific.
The set-up is simple. It is 1980. Gödel himself has been dead for two years. His widow Adele is now in an old people's home in New Jersey. A young woman named Anna Roth, archivist at Princeton's celebrated Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), is sent to persuade her to give the mathematician's documents (the so-called "Nachlass") to the Institute. She meets a feisty old lady who is nobody's fool, and who indeed throws her out. But Anna goes back and gives as good as she gets. The odd-numbered chapters throughout the book show the developing relationship between the two women, eventually moving towards respect and even affection. Even-numbered chapters are Adele's own reminiscences of her life with the genius. Six years older than him, and not the least in his intellectual or social class, she was working in a Viennese nightclub when their relationship began, and soon became lover, housekeeper, mother, and nurse. The couple married ten years later and escaped to America when it became clear that Gödel (though not Jewish) could not continue to work under the Nazi regime. Kurt had already made two visits to Princeton, and it was there where he would finally settle.
All of this is told in the first 150 pages of the novel; there are 300 more to come. The setting for these is impressive. Princeton's IAS attracted the cream of European refugees, and Gödel is rubbing shoulders with fellow-giants such as Einstein, Von Neumann, and Oppenheim. But of these, only Einstein emerges as a clear character, with his unconventionality, kindness, and wit, a close friend to Gödel but unfortunately eclipsing his tightly-wound personality in all their scenes together.* The narrative take us through the time of the Manhattan Project, the McCarthy hearings, and beyond, but Kurt Gödel seems mainly peripheral to these events—just as, for her entire life, Adele Gödel remained on the distant periphery of her husband's thought.
There is another problem. Gödel was one of the greatest thinkers of the 20th century—read Douglas Hofstadter's monumental Gödel, Escher, Bach if you want to know more—but his ideas are so abstract that it virtually requires a separate language to try to explain them. Grannec feels she has to try, but it takes her into dialogues such as this, where Adele is trying to understand by means of simple analogies, and Kurt is talking over her head (and over mine too):
Like cooking pots! So they have different infinities?Grannec does provide end-notes, but they are often denser than the passage being annotated. There are 9 notes through page 150; in the remaining 300 pages, there are 55 more. This is because the novel gradually steers away from the personal story of Kurt and Adele, and becomes a kind of intellectual history of Princeton in the mid-century. This contrasts with the developing relationship between Adele and Anna on her visits to the home. There is at least some spice to these scenes, though here again I wonder if the language (at least in the translation by Willard Wood) does not also sometimes go over the top. Here is Adele questioning Anna about her sex life:
Wrong! They have the same cardinality. I'll spare you the proof. Georg Cantor proved it with the help of a bijective function in the first case and using a diagonal argument in the second.
You think that orgasms didn't exist before 1960? That the sexual revolution, as they call it, invented a woman's pleasure? [...] When was the last time you had pleasure?The old lady is right: Anna Roth is indeed in sexual retreat. We are meant to see her story as a kind of counterpoint to that of the Gödels, in which her association with the dying woman encourages a thaw is her own life. But Anna never fully comes into focus as a character, and her back-story (including a failed relationship with another brilliant mathematician) is unclear. With a pathologically recessive man as the main subject of the novel, we do not need another character who cannot fully occupy her three dimensions. But at least we have the marvelously extroverted Adele, plus a lot of interesting historical facts. [4.5 stars for the first 150 pages, 2.5 stars for the rest]
I should tell you about the last time I got bonked to give you some spice in your sexual retirement? Don't hold your breath.
======
*
Einstein famously said he went to his office at the Institute for Advanced Study “just to have the privilege of walking home with Kurt Gödel."
January 28, 2019
“Puedo echarle la culpa de todo a mis ilusiones perdidas.” .
.
“La vida no es una ciencia exacta. Un ser humano es algo más que la suma de sus actos, más que una mera cronología.” .
.
#bookquotes .
.
Kurt Gödel es un hombre brillante, una de esas mentes excepcionales, un genio, quizás. Adele es una chica común y corriente. Él, llega a convertirse en uno de los matemáticos más importantes del siglo. Ella, vive para mantenerlo con vida, lo más cuerdo posible, satisfaciendo sus caprichos y excentricidades.
Anna es otra mente brillante, que atraviesa una etapa complicada en la vida. Tendrá el objetivo de recuperar los archivos del gran matemático que están en poder de su viuda de 80 años, quien ya no ve ni vive la vida como lo hacía a los treinta. .
.
No es una historia de amor. Es una historia de batallas y acompañamiento, dos personas que no podrían ser más diferentes entre ellas “deciden” pasar su vida juntos. Aunque es posible que haya iniciado como una historia de amor; el tiempo, las diferencias, el pesimismo, la monotonía... la vida misma, terminan con ese amor. Adele siempre estuvo pendiente de él, intentó construir un hogar con alguien que es posible que nunca entendiera lo que era uno, renunció a todo, incluyendo su felicidad. Kurt vivía en un mundo alterno y difícil de penetrar, no se enteraba de la realidad en la que verdaderamente se encontraba; también renunció a su felicidad, o quizás nunca la conoció.
Un libro lleno de referencias a grandes eventos y personalidades científicas. Sería bueno tener acceso a más hechos verídicos de esas historias. La prosa por momentos se vuelve cansada, pero es en general buena. Transmite. .
.
#ladiosadelaspequeñasvictorias #yannickgrannec #ladeesedespetitesvictories #thegoddessofsmallvictories #historicalfiction #fiction #novel #historical #french
.
“La vida no es una ciencia exacta. Un ser humano es algo más que la suma de sus actos, más que una mera cronología.” .
.
#bookquotes .
.
Kurt Gödel es un hombre brillante, una de esas mentes excepcionales, un genio, quizás. Adele es una chica común y corriente. Él, llega a convertirse en uno de los matemáticos más importantes del siglo. Ella, vive para mantenerlo con vida, lo más cuerdo posible, satisfaciendo sus caprichos y excentricidades.
Anna es otra mente brillante, que atraviesa una etapa complicada en la vida. Tendrá el objetivo de recuperar los archivos del gran matemático que están en poder de su viuda de 80 años, quien ya no ve ni vive la vida como lo hacía a los treinta. .
.
No es una historia de amor. Es una historia de batallas y acompañamiento, dos personas que no podrían ser más diferentes entre ellas “deciden” pasar su vida juntos. Aunque es posible que haya iniciado como una historia de amor; el tiempo, las diferencias, el pesimismo, la monotonía... la vida misma, terminan con ese amor. Adele siempre estuvo pendiente de él, intentó construir un hogar con alguien que es posible que nunca entendiera lo que era uno, renunció a todo, incluyendo su felicidad. Kurt vivía en un mundo alterno y difícil de penetrar, no se enteraba de la realidad en la que verdaderamente se encontraba; también renunció a su felicidad, o quizás nunca la conoció.
Un libro lleno de referencias a grandes eventos y personalidades científicas. Sería bueno tener acceso a más hechos verídicos de esas historias. La prosa por momentos se vuelve cansada, pero es en general buena. Transmite. .
.
#ladiosadelaspequeñasvictorias #yannickgrannec #ladeesedespetitesvictories #thegoddessofsmallvictories #historicalfiction #fiction #novel #historical #french
October 6, 2024
‘Intimiteit is blind voor waanzin; ze ontkent het bestaan ervan. De waanzin is een sluipend gif. Ze richt geruisloos verwoestingen aan, in een lang proces van ontregeling, tot die crisis die er een te veel is, wanneer de realiteit afrekent met de ontkenning en je alles afpakt wat je dacht te kunnen beschermen. En de anderen maar roepen: ‘Waarom heb je niets gedaan!’’
January 4, 2023
No la he visto muy apasionante. Me ha gustado, sobre todo, la parte histórica, cuando habla de la vida de Godel, pero la parte “artística”, es decir, la historia de Adele en la residencia, después de la muerte de su marido, como que no me ha terminado de interesar.
June 22, 2018
*3.25 stars.
"There are such pretty words for it in every language: mélancolie, spleen, the blues, saudade. The international hymn of sadness."
October 4, 2019
Bon livre, un peu long et répétitif. Et beaucoup de machisme ordinaire.
December 13, 2014
I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would because of the writing and because of two compelling female characters. The Goddess of Small Victories is about Adele Godel and her life with the genius mathmetician Kurt Godel. Grannec creates two story lines - one a traveling narrative of their relationship from Adele's perspective from 1928 to 1978, and the other a static frame story set in 1980-81 highlighting the unlikely friendship between a dying Adele and a young woman, Anna Roth, who is trying to secure Kurt's papers for the Princeton archive.
Adele is a forceful woman, initially hampered by a birthmark on her face and limited financial means. She meets Godel at the Cabaret where she works. Theirs is a not a traditional or even heartwarming love story. Early on, Adele is aware of Kurt's oddnesses and his dependency on others, including his mother's opinion and approval. He is a genius, a man trapped within his own thoughts, too busy internally most days to eat, who does not understand how to relate to non-academics living in the day to day world. He is sensitive, bordering on paranoid early in their relationship, and it is not long before his habits lead to institutionalization. Adele is hooked by that point, and what follows is fifty years of taking care of Kurt, first in Austria and later in Princeton.
Grannec illustrates the reality of love well. Love and marriage are not always giddy or romantic. There are moments of both, but for the most part, especially in this marriage, there are compromises and moments of self-discovery, more here than in a "normal"marriage due to the mental illness accompanying Kurt's genius. The saddest part to me is that Adele knows Kurt loved her, knows he depended on her; but she also knows, just as much as he loved her, that she as a fully realized person "didn't exist for [him]. I never existed." (428).
Anna Roth is equally compelling to me as a younger woman who hasn't ever really considered herself. She is in love with her own genius with his own issues, though not as apparently severe as Kurt's. Unlike Adele, though, she has not committed to him. She has not committed to anything, really, including existence. She meets Adele when Anna is chosen as the one to convince Adele to give Kurt's papers to Princeton. A friendship develops in which Adele tries to get Anna to live, to find pleasure and happiness.
Was Adele herself happy? Would Anna be happy going forward? That is another of Grannec's writing strengths. There are times, including one brief chapter consisting of a three page paragraph of Adele's frustrations, when it seems Adele could not be happy, that her life was all misery. Yet the moments when she teases Kurt, the conversations amongst his friends (including Albert Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer) where she seems as lost to the details as I do yet is still there in the moments of brilliance, in these moments she is present and I imagine her feeling alive, stimulated, and part of something significant. And it is at these times that I think Grannec creates and explains a relationship that is not easy to understand. I believe that Adele did know deep pleasure.
The story and the characters were very real to me. I didn't understand a lot of the mathematical/scientific/philosophical conversations, but I did understand the beauty of this novel. Well worth the time and effort of reading.
Adele is a forceful woman, initially hampered by a birthmark on her face and limited financial means. She meets Godel at the Cabaret where she works. Theirs is a not a traditional or even heartwarming love story. Early on, Adele is aware of Kurt's oddnesses and his dependency on others, including his mother's opinion and approval. He is a genius, a man trapped within his own thoughts, too busy internally most days to eat, who does not understand how to relate to non-academics living in the day to day world. He is sensitive, bordering on paranoid early in their relationship, and it is not long before his habits lead to institutionalization. Adele is hooked by that point, and what follows is fifty years of taking care of Kurt, first in Austria and later in Princeton.
Grannec illustrates the reality of love well. Love and marriage are not always giddy or romantic. There are moments of both, but for the most part, especially in this marriage, there are compromises and moments of self-discovery, more here than in a "normal"marriage due to the mental illness accompanying Kurt's genius. The saddest part to me is that Adele knows Kurt loved her, knows he depended on her; but she also knows, just as much as he loved her, that she as a fully realized person "didn't exist for [him]. I never existed." (428).
Anna Roth is equally compelling to me as a younger woman who hasn't ever really considered herself. She is in love with her own genius with his own issues, though not as apparently severe as Kurt's. Unlike Adele, though, she has not committed to him. She has not committed to anything, really, including existence. She meets Adele when Anna is chosen as the one to convince Adele to give Kurt's papers to Princeton. A friendship develops in which Adele tries to get Anna to live, to find pleasure and happiness.
Was Adele herself happy? Would Anna be happy going forward? That is another of Grannec's writing strengths. There are times, including one brief chapter consisting of a three page paragraph of Adele's frustrations, when it seems Adele could not be happy, that her life was all misery. Yet the moments when she teases Kurt, the conversations amongst his friends (including Albert Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer) where she seems as lost to the details as I do yet is still there in the moments of brilliance, in these moments she is present and I imagine her feeling alive, stimulated, and part of something significant. And it is at these times that I think Grannec creates and explains a relationship that is not easy to understand. I believe that Adele did know deep pleasure.
The story and the characters were very real to me. I didn't understand a lot of the mathematical/scientific/philosophical conversations, but I did understand the beauty of this novel. Well worth the time and effort of reading.
April 14, 2019
Un libro increíble. La manera en que vemos la vida de un genio a través de la vista simple de su esposa hace pensar que la locura y el genio van de la mano, tal vez no la locura pero sí la excentricidad. Cuando se conocieron Kurt caminaba embebido en sus pensamientos y ella iba viendo la calle, disfrutando la ciudad con esa mentalidad libertina que tiene la gente común.
De todos modos, el paso que llevaba la novela es muy disfrutable y combinaba las entrevistas que hace Anna a la entonces anciana Adele y la vida de casados que compartieron conforme pasaba el tiempo.
En uno de los capítulos finales, cuando Kurt ya había muerto ella encuentra las cartas que se enviaban él y su madre, y lo sorpresivo es que en ningún momento la mencionan a ella. Como si no hubiera existido y jamás se hubieran conocido, siquiera casado; esto era entendible de la suegra que jamás quiso a su nuera pero que Kurt no la llegase a mencionar muestra en qué estado estaba su relación.
Por supuesto que también ella contribuía siendo sumisa y aceptando el papel que ella creía le impuso Dios, al colocarla como la salvavidas, una boya para aquel genio que solo se hubiera hundido sin remedio, dejando la tierra antes de tiempo, de lograr sus hazañas.
Al mismo tiempo, la manera que tenía Anna de entender a la señora y su relación de contarse una historia y luego otra, mezcla las emociones que siente uno por la señora Gödel, por momentos la aborrece o la desprecia simplemente, siendo ella una persona común que no comprendía la grandiosidad del trabajo de su marido, ella misma sabía, cuando venían otros grandes científicos a la casa de Gödel, como Albert Einstein o Ernst Pauli, lo que ellos decían estaba en otro nivel y por eso le tenía cariño especial a Einstein que podía halagar su comida o explicar sus ideas de manera más fácil, dosificando el conocimiento o simplificándolo para el entendimiento de las masas.
El título del libro también es el título de uno de los capítulos, no recuerdo exactamente si antes o después de que solicitaran la ciudadanía gringa, porque Adele consigue convencer a Kurt de que compraran una casa más bonita y que no estuviera tan fea o mísera como la que habitaban desde su llegada. Gödel sin embargo se oponía porque eso alteraría la caminata que tomaba todos los días del brazo de Einstein a la universidad, además de que pasaba la mayoría del tiempo en su mente y no en el mundo. Adele llegó a decorar el jardín de la casa con unos flamencos rosas de fierro, pero Kurt ni siquiera se daba cuenta, no se fijaba porque iba del estudio a la universidad, no se paraba a ver los detalles que tenía su esposa.
Así surge la pregunta ¿por qué se casaron entonces? Ella fue quien sedujo a Kurt y aunque él llegó a mostrar interés cuando ya se conocían, como limpiándose las gafas para verle mejor el escote, nunca fue demasiado. La única vez que describe que tuvieron sexo ella dice que Kurt era muy torpe, no sabía bien qué hacer y años después dormían en cuartos separados, así que no había necesidad ni de pensar en ello.
Cuando llegué al final del libro, me conmovió y hasta me sacó un par de lagrimitas. La nota que le deja Adele a Anne y le dice que tiene una vida por delante, además de que la enfermera le cuenta a Anna que Adele no sufrió, porque ya se quería ir, es todo muy conmovedor. No fue no obstante, sorpresiva la muerte de Gödel ni la manera en que murió. Siempre había tenido problemas con la comida, alimentándose con migajas y apenas tocando la que aceptaba, olisqueándola infinitamente antes de llevársela a la boca y aun así en cantidades risibles.
La mujer era a pesar de todo, objeto de todos los laudos que uno pueda dar. Por décadas aguantó a aquel extrafalario, soportando sus berrinches y limpiando su desorden, arropándolo y alimentándolo cuando se negaba, ocupándose de todo lo que era necesario pero él no consideraba siquiera hacer. Discutieron obligadamente en varias ocasiones, ella pensando que Dios tenía un sentido del humor muy bueno por haberla casado con aquel mezquino.
Tuvo que ver también yo creo la ciudad y la época en que crecieron, más para ella que para él, que nunca fue muy de este mundo por ponerlo así. Ella creció en Viena, una Viena romántica o por lo menos con un pasado romántico, disfrutando de cafés por las tardes, trabajando el el Nachtfalter y viendo el sol posarse por las tardes sobre las azoteas de los edificios, todo mientras veía al país descender en desorden y caos provocados por la Primera Guerra Mundial y la desolución del Imperio. Luego el auge del nacionalsocialismo y aquel carismático personaje con un bigote chistoso haciendo de las suyas en Alemania, más tarde aprovechando el descontento en Austria para amenazar con invadir el país para terminar anexándolo en 1936. El referéndum había mostrado sin embargo un apoyo de casi el 99% de la gente para el Anschluss pero todo el mundo sabía que era una manipulación de los resultados, que de todos modos no eran tan diferentes.
Kurt por otro lado era obtuso a lo que sucedía en el país. No era ajeno completamente pero no le preocupaba, lo que él tenía en mente por ese entonces era lograr la plaza en la Universidad de Viena y poder residir allí dando clases. Cuando cada vez más escasas eran las visas para Estados Unidos y más restringidos los permisos de dejar el país, a Kurt seguía preocupándole poco y eso que ya estaba casado y había ido ya a Estados Unidos un par de veces donde su amigo Oskar Morgenstern lo esperaba. Su esposa lo salvó de ser golpeado por soldados nazis en las escaleras de la universidad porque él no le importaba refutarles lo que decían.
Y bueno por otro lado una vida similar a la de Adele la que tuvo Anne, si bien no es parecida tiene los mismos componentes: un amigo sumamente inteligente, un romance no correspondido y el sentimiento de reprimenda y desprecio toda la vida porque ella no era inteligente ni sofisticada como su amigo o como la perfidiosa madre. Todo el tiempo le estaban diciendo a la pobre, "endereza la espalda", "habla correctamente", "sé educada (pero a la vez seductora y misteriosa)". Luego que regresa de su gira por Europa sólo consigue el trabajo porque su padre es amigo del director del IAS (Institute of Advanced Studies) y cuando la llaman por ejemplo a aquella cena, le piden que asista en realidad pero era una invitación forzada, no era porque realmente la necesitaran sino porque la deseaban, carnalmente o cómo ya queda a cada uno, pero el caso es que no era apreciada.
En fin, creo que es suficiente y en realidad no me tomó tanto tiempo leer el libro. Tenía la impresión de que me había llevado más tiempo, desde febrero tal vez, pero no. Un libro placentero siempre da gusto de leerlo, y no tuvo lagunas como pensé que podría tener como me dijo mi abuela, que no entendía cuando estaban hablando en la cena Einstein con Pauli y Gödel, o de mis momentos preferidos cuando Kurt le explica en la playa el concepto de infinito y los varios infinitos que existen y el origen de su hipótesis del continuo que le había granjeado tanta fama.
Excelente librísimo.
De todos modos, el paso que llevaba la novela es muy disfrutable y combinaba las entrevistas que hace Anna a la entonces anciana Adele y la vida de casados que compartieron conforme pasaba el tiempo.
En uno de los capítulos finales, cuando Kurt ya había muerto ella encuentra las cartas que se enviaban él y su madre, y lo sorpresivo es que en ningún momento la mencionan a ella. Como si no hubiera existido y jamás se hubieran conocido, siquiera casado; esto era entendible de la suegra que jamás quiso a su nuera pero que Kurt no la llegase a mencionar muestra en qué estado estaba su relación.
Por supuesto que también ella contribuía siendo sumisa y aceptando el papel que ella creía le impuso Dios, al colocarla como la salvavidas, una boya para aquel genio que solo se hubiera hundido sin remedio, dejando la tierra antes de tiempo, de lograr sus hazañas.
Al mismo tiempo, la manera que tenía Anna de entender a la señora y su relación de contarse una historia y luego otra, mezcla las emociones que siente uno por la señora Gödel, por momentos la aborrece o la desprecia simplemente, siendo ella una persona común que no comprendía la grandiosidad del trabajo de su marido, ella misma sabía, cuando venían otros grandes científicos a la casa de Gödel, como Albert Einstein o Ernst Pauli, lo que ellos decían estaba en otro nivel y por eso le tenía cariño especial a Einstein que podía halagar su comida o explicar sus ideas de manera más fácil, dosificando el conocimiento o simplificándolo para el entendimiento de las masas.
El título del libro también es el título de uno de los capítulos, no recuerdo exactamente si antes o después de que solicitaran la ciudadanía gringa, porque Adele consigue convencer a Kurt de que compraran una casa más bonita y que no estuviera tan fea o mísera como la que habitaban desde su llegada. Gödel sin embargo se oponía porque eso alteraría la caminata que tomaba todos los días del brazo de Einstein a la universidad, además de que pasaba la mayoría del tiempo en su mente y no en el mundo. Adele llegó a decorar el jardín de la casa con unos flamencos rosas de fierro, pero Kurt ni siquiera se daba cuenta, no se fijaba porque iba del estudio a la universidad, no se paraba a ver los detalles que tenía su esposa.
Así surge la pregunta ¿por qué se casaron entonces? Ella fue quien sedujo a Kurt y aunque él llegó a mostrar interés cuando ya se conocían, como limpiándose las gafas para verle mejor el escote, nunca fue demasiado. La única vez que describe que tuvieron sexo ella dice que Kurt era muy torpe, no sabía bien qué hacer y años después dormían en cuartos separados, así que no había necesidad ni de pensar en ello.
Cuando llegué al final del libro, me conmovió y hasta me sacó un par de lagrimitas. La nota que le deja Adele a Anne y le dice que tiene una vida por delante, además de que la enfermera le cuenta a Anna que Adele no sufrió, porque ya se quería ir, es todo muy conmovedor. No fue no obstante, sorpresiva la muerte de Gödel ni la manera en que murió. Siempre había tenido problemas con la comida, alimentándose con migajas y apenas tocando la que aceptaba, olisqueándola infinitamente antes de llevársela a la boca y aun así en cantidades risibles.
La mujer era a pesar de todo, objeto de todos los laudos que uno pueda dar. Por décadas aguantó a aquel extrafalario, soportando sus berrinches y limpiando su desorden, arropándolo y alimentándolo cuando se negaba, ocupándose de todo lo que era necesario pero él no consideraba siquiera hacer. Discutieron obligadamente en varias ocasiones, ella pensando que Dios tenía un sentido del humor muy bueno por haberla casado con aquel mezquino.
Tuvo que ver también yo creo la ciudad y la época en que crecieron, más para ella que para él, que nunca fue muy de este mundo por ponerlo así. Ella creció en Viena, una Viena romántica o por lo menos con un pasado romántico, disfrutando de cafés por las tardes, trabajando el el Nachtfalter y viendo el sol posarse por las tardes sobre las azoteas de los edificios, todo mientras veía al país descender en desorden y caos provocados por la Primera Guerra Mundial y la desolución del Imperio. Luego el auge del nacionalsocialismo y aquel carismático personaje con un bigote chistoso haciendo de las suyas en Alemania, más tarde aprovechando el descontento en Austria para amenazar con invadir el país para terminar anexándolo en 1936. El referéndum había mostrado sin embargo un apoyo de casi el 99% de la gente para el Anschluss pero todo el mundo sabía que era una manipulación de los resultados, que de todos modos no eran tan diferentes.
Kurt por otro lado era obtuso a lo que sucedía en el país. No era ajeno completamente pero no le preocupaba, lo que él tenía en mente por ese entonces era lograr la plaza en la Universidad de Viena y poder residir allí dando clases. Cuando cada vez más escasas eran las visas para Estados Unidos y más restringidos los permisos de dejar el país, a Kurt seguía preocupándole poco y eso que ya estaba casado y había ido ya a Estados Unidos un par de veces donde su amigo Oskar Morgenstern lo esperaba. Su esposa lo salvó de ser golpeado por soldados nazis en las escaleras de la universidad porque él no le importaba refutarles lo que decían.
Y bueno por otro lado una vida similar a la de Adele la que tuvo Anne, si bien no es parecida tiene los mismos componentes: un amigo sumamente inteligente, un romance no correspondido y el sentimiento de reprimenda y desprecio toda la vida porque ella no era inteligente ni sofisticada como su amigo o como la perfidiosa madre. Todo el tiempo le estaban diciendo a la pobre, "endereza la espalda", "habla correctamente", "sé educada (pero a la vez seductora y misteriosa)". Luego que regresa de su gira por Europa sólo consigue el trabajo porque su padre es amigo del director del IAS (Institute of Advanced Studies) y cuando la llaman por ejemplo a aquella cena, le piden que asista en realidad pero era una invitación forzada, no era porque realmente la necesitaran sino porque la deseaban, carnalmente o cómo ya queda a cada uno, pero el caso es que no era apreciada.
En fin, creo que es suficiente y en realidad no me tomó tanto tiempo leer el libro. Tenía la impresión de que me había llevado más tiempo, desde febrero tal vez, pero no. Un libro placentero siempre da gusto de leerlo, y no tuvo lagunas como pensé que podría tener como me dijo mi abuela, que no entendía cuando estaban hablando en la cena Einstein con Pauli y Gödel, o de mis momentos preferidos cuando Kurt le explica en la playa el concepto de infinito y los varios infinitos que existen y el origen de su hipótesis del continuo que le había granjeado tanta fama.
Excelente librísimo.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 29, 2014
Despite the many positive reviews this book got in the mainstream press, it is not a perfectly constructed novel. Sometimes the translation is clunky. There are virtually no dialogue markers so you quickly can lose track of who's talking in a conversation. (And there's a lot of dialogue.) There's a weird/random use of exclamation points in the dialogues, but I'm chalking that up to translation challenges.
The character development of Anna, the main character of each alternating chapter, is poor at best. Is she supposed to be an echo of of Adele's famous but mentally unstable mathematician husband? Is she developed in the novel as Adele's friend in order for Adele to experience a kind of redemption previously unattainable? Well, I had to work a little too hard to see that, and even now I may be over reaching.
But Adele's voice, her story, wouldn't let me go. And how could any book with Albert Einstein in it get fewer than 4 stars?
I'm glad I read it.
The character development of Anna, the main character of each alternating chapter, is poor at best. Is she supposed to be an echo of of Adele's famous but mentally unstable mathematician husband? Is she developed in the novel as Adele's friend in order for Adele to experience a kind of redemption previously unattainable? Well, I had to work a little too hard to see that, and even now I may be over reaching.
But Adele's voice, her story, wouldn't let me go. And how could any book with Albert Einstein in it get fewer than 4 stars?
I'm glad I read it.
October 26, 2014
There is much to recommend this book: the interesting quotes which begin each chapter, the fascinating quirks of some of the most famous mathematicians and scientists of the twentieth century e.g. Einstein, Opfermann, Godel , the incomprehensible love of Adele for Kurt Godel, the dialog and growth of friendship between Adele and Anna .I enjoyed the first part of the book ;however, I felt that it really got bogged down in the middle and became a very slow read for me at that point. I still found it interesting enough to recommend esp. if you enjoy historical biographies or WWII stories with strong women.I would not recommend it as a great love story.Perhaps a baffling one.
November 22, 2014
What I truly appreciated is the blend of fact and fiction that yielded a sense of time and place...Princeton University in the middle two decades of the twentieth century. There would be great meat for a book club discussion on the nature of genius and the trade offs it begets. I found it interesting that this book was translated into rather than written in English because it captures the American immigrant intellectual experience so genuinely, balancing the gratitude for a safe haven with the suspicion of the price to be paid. I did not expect that I would like the book as much as I did.
July 26, 2018
The author presents dialogue among multiple people in a conversation without naming the speaker. This is fine when there are only two people, but when there are three or more, it is impossible to know who says what.
Chapters alternate between present day and the distant past. The modern story is sweet and easy to read, but the past is so slow and dry that staying focused is difficult.
Chapters alternate between present day and the distant past. The modern story is sweet and easy to read, but the past is so slow and dry that staying focused is difficult.
May 3, 2016
Hacía tiempo que no leía una historia tan bien escrita. Aunque es un relato crudo, sin pompa, sobre la soledad en pareja y un amor equilibrado, verdadero pero un tanto destructivo y difícil. Por supuesto, aderezado con matemáticas e historia.
Muy recomendable.
Muy recomendable.
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