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Severo Sarduy was among the most important figures in twentieth-century Latin American fiction and a major representative of the literary tendency to which he gave the name Neobaroque. While most of Sarduy's literary work is available in English, his theoretical writings have largely remained untranslated. This volume—presenting Sarduy's central theoretical contribution, Barroco (1974), alongside other related works—remedies that oversight. Barroco marks a watershed in postwar thought on the Baroque, both in French post-structuralism and in the Latin American context. Sarduy traces a double history, reading events in the history of science alongside developments in the history of art, architecture, and literature. What emerges is a theory of the Baroque as decentering and displacement, as supplement and excess, a theory capacious enough to account for the old European Baroque as well as its queer, Latin American and global futures. In addition to Barroco, this volume includes texts spanning Sarduy's career, from 1960s essays published originally in Tel Quel to late works from the 1980s and'90s. It thus offers a complete picture of Sarduy's thinking on the Baroque.

This is an introductory textbook on geometry (affine, Euclidean and projective) suitable for any undergraduate or first-year graduate course in mathematics and physics. In particular, several parts of the first ten chapters can be used in a course of linear algebra, affine and Euclidean geometry by students of some branches of engineering and computer science. Chapter 11 may be useful as an elementary introduction to algebraic geometry for advanced undergraduate and graduate students of mathematics. Chapters 12 and 13 may be a part of a course on non-Euclidean geometry for mathematics students. Chapter 13 may be of some interest for students of theoretical physics (Galilean and Einstein's general relativity). It provides full proofs and includes many examples and exercises. The covered topics include vector spaces and quadratic forms, affine and projective spaces over an arbitrary field; Euclidean spaces; some synthetic affine, Euclidean and projective geometry; affine and projective hyperquadrics with coefficients in an arbitrary field of characteristic different from 2; Bézout's theorem for curves of P^2 (K), where K is a fixed algebraically closed field of arbitrary characteristic; and Cayley-Klein geometries.

Max Dehn (1878–1952) is known to mathematicians today for his seminal contributions to geometry and topology—Dehn surgery, Dehn twists, the Dehn invariant, etc. He is also remembered as the first mathematician to solve one of Hilbert's famous problems. However, Dehn's influence as a scholar and teacher extended far beyond his mathematics. Dehn also lived a remarkable life, described in this book in three phases. The first phase focuses on his early career as one of David Hilbert's most gifted students. The second, after World War I, treats his time in Frankfurt where he led an intimate community of mathematicians in explorations of historical texts. The final phase, after 1938, concerns his flight from Nazi Germany to Scandinavia and eventually to the United States where, after various teaching experiences, the Dehns settled at iconic Black Mountain College. This book is a collection of essays written by mathematicians and historians of art and science. It treats Dehn's mathematics and its influence, his journeys, and his remarkable engagement in history and the arts. A great deal of the information found in this book has never before been published.

This monograph meticulously examines the contributions of French mathematician Michel Chasles to 19th-century geometry. Through an in-depth analysis of Chasles'extensive body of work, the author examines six pivotal arguments which collectively reshape the foundations of geometry. Chasles introduces a novel form of polarity, termed'parabolic,'to the graphic context, so expressing the metric properties by means of this specific polarity—a foundational argument. Beyond the celebrated'Chasles theorem,'he extends his analysis to the movement of a rigid body, employing concepts derived from projective geometry. This approach is consistently applied across diverse domains. Chasles employs the same methodology to analyze systems of forces. The fourth argument examined by the author concerns the principle of virtual velocities, which can also be addressed through a geometric analysis. In the fifth chapter, Chasles'philosophy of duality is explained. It is grounded on theduality principles of projective geometry. Finally, the author presents Chasles'synthetic solution for the intricate problem of ellipsoid attraction—the sixth and concluding chapter. Throughout these explorations, Chasles engages in a dynamic scientific dialogue with leading physicists and mathematicians of his era, revealing diverse perspectives and nuances inherent in these discussions.Tailored for historians specializing in mathematics and geometry, this monograph also beckons philosophers of mathematics and science, offering profound insights into the philosophical, epistemological, and methodological dimensions of Chasles'groundbreaking contributions. Providing a comprehensive understanding of Chasles'distinctive perspective on 19th-century geometry, this work stands as a valuable resource for scholars and enthusiasts alike.