Self-similarity through high-variability

1995 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 100-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter Willinger ◽  
Murad S. Taqqu ◽  
Robert Sherman ◽  
Daniel V. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
High Variability ◽  
Self Similarity

Beckett's Broken Circle: A Literary Fractal

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 196-215
Author(s):  
Luke Connolly
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Chaos ◽  
Geometric Form ◽  
Self Similarity ◽  
Collision Point ◽  
Stable Order ◽  
Structural Principle ◽  
Recent Interest ◽  
Viable Solution ◽  
Specific Shape

This essay proposes that the picture of a broken circle encountered by Watt during the second part of his tale marks a crucial collision point between Beckett's literary and mathematical interests and triggers a process of fractal scaling self-similarity. Building on recent interest concerning the role of the mathematics and mathematical forms found in Beckett's work, I argue that the broken circle depicted in the picture from Watt is a geometric form which (re)appears within at least three interlocking scales throughout Beckett's novel-length prose: (i) its moment of arrival in the picture from Watt, (ii) a macroscopic reinscription in the names of the protagonists populating the five novels spanning Watt through to The Unnamable and (iii) buried within the narratological depths of How It Is. As a structural principle, the interminable irregularity of fractals offered Beckett a viable solution for what he considered the defining task of the modern artist: ‘to find a form to accommodate the mess’. Moreover, the specific shape selected for his fractal is shown to contain within its geometry one of Beckett's most universal and pressing concerns: the inevitable insufficiency of language. Therefore, although this essay restricts itself to examining Beckett's novel-length prose, the idea of a broken circle fractal promises to provide a valuable heuristic through which to reassess the author's other generic avenues. Fractals thus offer a means through which one can bind together the length and breadth of Beckett's oeuvre without ever reducing dynamic chaos to stable order.

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