The French Mathematician

After Napolean's exile, with France in turmoil, Evarist Galois turns away from the world to concentrate on his passion, mathematics, but the suspicious nature of his father's death forces him back into society where he soon joins the Republican cause.

If Evariste Galois?a boy genius cut down in a romantic duel?had only been a painter, his life might have been penned by Irving Stone and played by Kirk Douglas in the movie version. But since he was a mathematician, he has had to wait 166 years, since his death in 1832, for this valiant but strained debut from Australian playwright and fellow mathematician Petsinis. We meet narrator Evariste in 1827, when he is a sullen teenager at the Louis-le-Grand school in Paris. In his first class in geometry, he experiences an almost religious vision of mathematical order and henceforth dashes his parents' hopes for a respectable career as a provincial schoolteacher. When Evariste's father, a beleaguered liberal politician and small-town mayor, commits suicide, however, Evariste turns from mathematics to revolution. Though his efforts are earnest, Petsinis never finds a style that can combine the language of mathematics and the language of passion. When, for example, Evariste receives the news of his father's death, we get this bit of misplaced erudition: "I bit my lower lip, checking the swell of emotion by bringing to mind my recent findings: The essence of an equation could be brought to light through the nature of the group formed from its coefficients." Although the world may owe a debut to Evariste Galois for his discovery of group theory, readers who make it to the end of this novel may feel they've paid more than their fair share.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A note at the end of this fictional memoir informs the reader that the work of Evariste Galois--the French mathematician--was the precursor of group theory, influential in nuclear physics and genetic engineering. However, during his brief life, Galois' work was all but disregarded, and he essentially died unfulfilled in his professional and political aspirations. (Galois was a fervent Republican in the age of Louis Philippe.) Never a good student, except in mathematics, and unpopular with classmates and most of his teachers, Galois was twice denied admission to the Polytechnic, and in 1830 he was thwarted in his attempt to lead students during the Paris Revolution. Torn between politics and mathematics, he lived an ascetic life until finally succumbing to the advances of a coquette--the fiance e of a friend, no less--which led to a fatal duel at the age of 20. In this remarkable novel, Petsinis resurrects a young, overemotional, impetuous, and headstrong genius whose personal failures read like a Hugo novel but whose voice resonates more clearly now with the passage of time. Frank Caso

This fictionalized biography of theoretical mathematician Evariste Galois (1811-32) was a best seller in Australia, and its U.S. release represents a departure for the publisher, primarily associated with nonfiction titles and mysteries. One wishes the house had picked a better candidate for its foray into nongenre fiction. After a prolog (appropriately numbered 0) that prefigures Galois's untimely death, the story begins with Galois's discovery of his genius for math in a Parisian boarding school. A prototypical nerd and not at all likeable, Galois sees math as a means to fame and power. He forsakes sex, religion, friends, and his parents' needs for his science, but this youthful single-mindedness doesn't add up to a very interesting plot line?the mathematical formulae and proofs are actually more exciting. Eventually, Galois becomes tangentially involved in the revolution against the king, ruining his academic career. He hastily compiles his theories the night before the duel that ends his life at 20, but his theories live on, forming the basis for a branch of mathematics known as Group Theory. Though Petsinis tries to impart a sense of freneticism, even the use of the first person and the present tense don't make Galois's life seem more immediate. A marginal purchase.?Reba Leiding, James Madison Univ., Harrisonburg, VA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.