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Chaos Bound: Orderly Disorder in Contemporary Literature and Science

Chaos Bound: Orderly Disorder in Contemporary Literature and Science

N. Katherine Hayles
3.8/5 ( ratings)
Read Download
At the same time that the study of nonlinear dynamics came into its own in the sciences, the focus of literary studies shifted toward local, fragmentary modes of analysis in which texts were no longer regarded as deterministic or predictable.
N.
Katherine
Hayles
here
investigates
parallels
between
contemporary
litera­
ture
and
critical
theory
and
the
emerging
interdisciplinary
field
known
as
the
science
of
chaos.
She
finds
in
both
scientific
and
literary
discourse
new
interpre­
tations
of
chaos,
which
is
seen
no
longer
as
disorder
but
as
a
locus
of
maximum
information
and
complexity.
The
new
paradigm
of
chaos
includes
elements
that,
Hayles
shows,
were
evident
in
literary
theory
and
literature
before
they
became
prominent
in
the
sciences.
She
asserts
that
such
similarities
between
the
natural
and
human
sciences
are
the
result
not
of
direct
influence
but
of
roots
in
a
common
cultural
matrix.
Hayles
traces
the
evolution
of
the
concept
of
chaos
and
evaluates
the
work
of
such
theorists
as
Prigogine,
Feigenbaum,
and
Mandelbrot,
for
whom
chaos
entails
an
unpredictably
open
universe
in
which
knowledge
is
limited
to
local
sites
and
scientific
models
can
never
exhaust
the
possibilities
of
the
actual.
But
this
view
does
not
imply
that
scientists
have
given
up
the
search
for
global
ex­
planations
of
natural
phenomena,
for
chaos
is
conceived
of
as
containing
its
own
form
of
order.
Hayles
envisions
chaos
as
a
double-edged
sword:
it
can
be
viewed
either
as
a
recognition
that
disorder
plays
a
more
important
role
in
natural
processes
than
had
hitherto
been
recognized
or
as
an
extension
of
order
into
areas
that
had
hitherto
resisted
formalization.
She
examines
structures
and
themes
of
disorder
in
The
Education
of
Henry Adams,
Doris
Lessing's
Golden
Notebook,
and
works
by
Stanislaw
Lem.
Hayles
concludes
by
showing
how
the
writings
of
poststmcturalist
theorists
incorporate
central
features
of
chaos
theory-such
as
an
interest
in
relating
local
sites
to
global
stmctures;
a
conception
of
order
and
disorder
as
interpenetrating
rather
than
opposed;
an
awareness
that
in
complex
systems
small
causes
can
lead
to
massive
effects;
and
an
understanding
that
complex
systems
can
be
both
deterministic
and
unpredictable.
Chaos
Bound
will
contribute
to
and
enliven
current
debates
among
chaos
theorists,
cultural
critics
and
cultural
historians,
critical
theorists,
literary
critics
interested
in
nineteenth-
and
twentieth-century
literature,
researchers
in
nonlinear
dynamics,
and
others
concerned
with
the
relation
between
science
and
culture.
Language
English
Pages
309
Format
Hardcover
Publisher
Cornell University Press
Release
April 01, 1990
ISBN
0801497019
ISBN 13
9780801497018

Chaos Bound: Orderly Disorder in Contemporary Literature and Science

N. Katherine Hayles
3.8/5 ( ratings)
Read Download
At the same time that the study of nonlinear dynamics came into its own in the sciences, the focus of literary studies shifted toward local, fragmentary modes of analysis in which texts were no longer regarded as deterministic or predictable.
N.
Katherine
Hayles
here
investigates
parallels
between
contemporary
litera­
ture
and
critical
theory
and
the
emerging
interdisciplinary
field
known
as
the
science
of
chaos.
She
finds
in
both
scientific
and
literary
discourse
new
interpre­
tations
of
chaos,
which
is
seen
no
longer
as
disorder
but
as
a
locus
of
maximum
information
and
complexity.
The
new
paradigm
of
chaos
includes
elements
that,
Hayles
shows,
were
evident
in
literary
theory
and
literature
before
they
became
prominent
in
the
sciences.
She
asserts
that
such
similarities
between
the
natural
and
human
sciences
are
the
result
not
of
direct
influence
but
of
roots
in
a
common
cultural
matrix.
Hayles
traces
the
evolution
of
the
concept
of
chaos
and
evaluates
the
work
of
such
theorists
as
Prigogine,
Feigenbaum,
and
Mandelbrot,
for
whom
chaos
entails
an
unpredictably
open
universe
in
which
knowledge
is
limited
to
local
sites
and
scientific
models
can
never
exhaust
the
possibilities
of
the
actual.
But
this
view
does
not
imply
that
scientists
have
given
up
the
search
for
global
ex­
planations
of
natural
phenomena,
for
chaos
is
conceived
of
as
containing
its
own
form
of
order.
Hayles
envisions
chaos
as
a
double-edged
sword:
it
can
be
viewed
either
as
a
recognition
that
disorder
plays
a
more
important
role
in
natural
processes
than
had
hitherto
been
recognized
or
as
an
extension
of
order
into
areas
that
had
hitherto
resisted
formalization.
She
examines
structures
and
themes
of
disorder
in
The
Education
of
Henry Adams,
Doris
Lessing's
Golden
Notebook,
and
works
by
Stanislaw
Lem.
Hayles
concludes
by
showing
how
the
writings
of
poststmcturalist
theorists
incorporate
central
features
of
chaos
theory-such
as
an
interest
in
relating
local
sites
to
global
stmctures;
a
conception
of
order
and
disorder
as
interpenetrating
rather
than
opposed;
an
awareness
that
in
complex
systems
small
causes
can
lead
to
massive
effects;
and
an
understanding
that
complex
systems
can
be
both
deterministic
and
unpredictable.
Chaos
Bound
will
contribute
to
and
enliven
current
debates
among
chaos
theorists,
cultural
critics
and
cultural
historians,
critical
theorists,
literary
critics
interested
in
nineteenth-
and
twentieth-century
literature,
researchers
in
nonlinear
dynamics,
and
others
concerned
with
the
relation
between
science
and
culture.
Language
English
Pages
309
Format
Hardcover
Publisher
Cornell University Press
Release
April 01, 1990
ISBN
0801497019
ISBN 13
9780801497018

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