(Ytterligare en sak jag skrev på angliska tungomålet, så att det kan användas
på annat håll också. Bland ytlänningar som är för lata för att lära sig Lingua
Sveca. --AE)
Last Thursday i went to the release of the book Allt är vågor - Virginia Woolf
och den moderna fysiken ("Everything Is Waves - Virginia Wolf and Modern
Physics"; publisher Weyler förlag, 2016; Swe info
http://www.weylerforlag.se/bocker/allt-ar-vagor/ ;) by Per Molander. It took
place in in the classic, picturesque Söderbokhandeln bookstore in Stockholm,
which has been on the same address since 1927 (see
http://soderbokhandeln.blogspot.se/2010_11_01_archive.html - no THAT address ;
isn't from 1927, since the Interweb wasn't around too much at the time).
The author Per Molander is a former scientists that turned into a government
bureaucrat, recently as General Director of the Social Insurance Inspection.
And he argues that Virginia Woolf's (1882-1941) novel The Waves (from 1931)
shows parallels to quantum theory and other modern physics. (BTW, since she
died 70+ years ago this novel is in the public domain, and you can find it in
EPUB format eg here https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/w/woolf/virginia/w91w/ ;).
The publisher's presentation claims that "the parallels between the use of
metaphors in science and literature are many and far from trivial ... The
central metaphor is the wave... /And Woolf attempts to/ reach a representation
of reality that reflects the complexity of the external world."
In his presentation Molander stressed that physics is nothing but a bundle of
metaphors. We talk about elementary particles as specks of dust, but we can't
grab them, can't see them and they are beyond our comprehension except in
metaphors and as abstract numbers. We talk about waves and fields, but they are
nothing like the waves of the sea or green meadows.
I must say I found it hard to understand how science relates to Woolf's
novel. Though it is considered most "experimental" piece of work, it isn't
exactly as an experiment in a physics laboratory. I entered "virginia woolf
waves quantum physics" in Google and got an amazing 98 500 hits! That this
novel has some spooky entanglement with physics seems to be an opinion of some
proliferation. Einstein, Bohr and others had just a few years before her novel
turned classical physics upside down, and the avante garde Bloomsbury group (to
which Woolf belonged) were interested in all development at the cutting edge,
though it is less certain they understood relativity or quantum theory.
The connection between science and literature here seems to be
more...metaphorical: if everything is relative with uncertain positions it is
relative and with uncertain positions in ordinary life too. Einstein & Co
challenged the norms of Newtonian classical physics just as the Bloomsburians
charged the fortifications of contemporary literature.
To me this seems to be a little superficial. Both had a similar attitude of
being rebels so they must be related. But they worked in totally different
fields! It is as saying that since both humans and birds have two legs and two
eyes, they are closely related. But one lay eggs and one can't fly.
Molander read a few excerpts from his book, but it failed to convince me.
Through google I found eg this essay about Woolf and quantum physics:
http://www.wearelemonpeople.com/fact/2014/11/11/quantum-occurring-in-virginia-woolfs-the-waves
And it might convince me, if I only could understand the text. We learn for
instance that "Woolf’s work paints a cyclical, holistic, universe through
extrinsic poetic narration, inhabited by voices imbued with quantum tendencies"
and "As objective realism was being questioned in physics, Woolf challenged
realist writing, which assumed this objectivity, instead creating a text with
fluid characters, shared consciousness, and a lyrical style which was neither
narrator, third person, nor a character’s voice" (I mean, where in physics do
we find a "shared consciousness" and any "lyrical style"?). And here's another
piece, 19 pages of vague concepts embedded in a hailstorm of words:
http://zeteojournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Ettinger-FINAL-formatted-NEW.pdf
I don't think you can read Virginia Woolf and get a grip of modern physics. I
have another idea about that. Someone (I think he was named Jules, or possibly
Hugo) invented something called science...fiction. You can guess from its name
that this is fiction that somehow has with science to do.
I've read some of this "science fiction". Someone named Heinlein took great
care to make sure his rockets had the right "delta-v" for orbital manoeuvers.
One Dr Asimov set up the laws for automation and robotics. When it comes to
fuzzy realities and uncertainty one Phil Dick knew and wrote everything about
it. Not everything of this science...fiction is good or scientifically correct,
but when it's at its best it attempts to at least understand and directly
relate to science.
The author, the publisher Svante Weyler, me and a bunch of others stayed
behind in the bookstore afterwards, had some bribery wine and talked. (There
was also translator, fan etc Lena Karlin - known in our so called fandom
circles for decades - who asked Weyler for translation commissions.) I asked
Per Molander if he had read any of this "science fiction", but it seemed he had
only read the standard books (1984, Verne etc).
An interesting evening nonetheless.
--Ahrvid Engholm
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