1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910272354803321

Autore

Hayles N. Katherine <1943->

Titolo

Chaos Bound : Orderly Disorder in Contemporary Literature and Science / / N. Katherine Hayles

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Ithaca, N.Y. : , : Cornell University Press, , 1990

©1990

ISBN

1-5017-2792-3

0-8014-9701-9

1-5017-2295-6

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (309 pages)

Disciplina

809/.04

Soggetti

Chaotic behavior in systems in literature

Literature, Modern - 20th century - History and criticism

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 297-304) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Preface -- 1 Introduction: The Evolution of Chaos -- PART I SOMETHING OUT OF NOTHING -- 2 Self-reflexive Metaphors in Maxwell's Demon and Shannon's Choice: Finding the Passages -- 3 The Necessary Gap: Chaos as Self in The Education of Henry Adams -- 4 From Epilogue to Prologue: Chaos and the Arrow of Time -- 5 Chaos as Dialectic: Stanislaw Lem and the Space of Writing -- PART II THE FIGURE IN THE CARPET -- 6 Strange Attractors: The Appeal of Chaos -- 7 Chaos and Poststructuralism -- 8 The Politics of Chaos: Local Knowledge versus Global Theory -- 9 Fracturing Forms: Recuperation and Simulation in The Golden Notebook -- 10 Conclusion: Chaos and Culture: Postmodernism(s) and the Denaturing of Experience -- Selected Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

N. Katherine Hayles here investigates parallels between contemporary literature and critical theory and the science of chaos. She finds in both scientific and literary discourse new interpretations of chaos, which is seen no longer as disorder but as a locus of maximum information and complexity. She examines structures and themes of disorder in The Education of Henry Adams, Doris Lessing's Golden Notebook, and works by Stanislaw Lem. Hayles shows how the writings of



poststructuralist theorists including Barthes, Lyotard, Derrida, Serres, and de Man incorporate central features of chaos theory.