Chaos and Order: Complex Dynamics in Literature and ScienceN. Katherine Hayles The scientific discovery that chaotic systems embody deep structures of order is one of such wide-ranging implications that it has attracted attention across a spectrum of disciplines, including the humanities. In this volume, fourteen theorists explore the significance for literary and cultural studies of the new paradigm of chaotics, forging connections between contemporary literature and the science of chaos. They examine how changing ideas of order and disorder enable new readings of scientific and literary texts, from Newton's Principia to Ruskin's autobiography, from Victorian serial fiction to Borges's short stories. N. Katherine Hayles traces shifts in meaning that chaos has undergone within the Western tradition, suggesting that the science of chaos articulates categories that cannot be assimilated into the traditional dichotomy of order and disorder. She and her contributors take the relation between order and disorder as a theme and develop its implications for understanding texts, metaphors, metafiction, audience response, and the process of interpretation itself. Their innovative and diverse work opens the interdisciplinary field of chaotics to literary inquiry. |
Other editions - View all
Chaos and Order: Complex Dynamics in Literature and Science N. Katherine Hayles Limited preview - 2014 |
Chaos and Order: Complex Dynamics in Literature and Science N. Katherine Hayles Limited preview - 1991 |
Common terms and phrases
appears argues artistic becomes behavior belle noiseuse bifurcation bifurcation theory Borges Borges's century chaos theory chaotic complex concept context cultural deconstruction describe discourse disorder dissipative structure dynamics emergence equations essay example fiction Gart Genèse Gleick global Hayles Hermes human Ilya Prigogine implies interpretation Katherine Hayles la belle noiseuse labyrinth language Lem's linear literary text literature and science logic Lord Jim mathematics meaning metafiction metanarratives metaphor Michel Serres mind Mitchell Feigenbaum modern multiple mythopoeic narrative natural philosophy Newton's Newtonian noise nonlinear novel organization paradigm parasite patterns phenomena physical plot poem possible postmodern Prigogine Prigogine's quantum mechanics random reader reading reality representation rhetoric Roadshow Ruskin science of chaos scientific scientists self-organization semiotic sense serial Serres Serres's Solaris Stengers story strange attractor tion traffic jam Trans trope Ts'ui Pên's Tsun turbulence understanding University Press Victorian words writing York