In 1959, C. P. Snow, in his famous lecture on “The Two Cultures,” lamented the gulf between the culture of scientists and that of “literary intellectuals” and also characterized the latter as being ignorant of the natural sciences. This lecture provoked heated denunciations from some leading litterateurs, but subsequent generations of literary folk have sought to prove that the world of letters in various ways has absorbed, made use of, or been touched by scientific concepts. This volume, edited by a specialist in Spanish American literature (Fishburn) and a mathematician interested in the relation of science to society and culture (Ortiz), for the most part seeks to demonstrate the role of science in Latin American writing.
Three essays present examples of Argentine authors who incorporated scientists or scientific concepts into their fiction or poetry. Eduardo Ortiz discusses two novels of fantasy written in...
