My dreams are never complete visions of my world. They usually follow one thread of a story, not the whole tapestry: I do not dream of the social and political and scientific implications of my dream world, just what happens to me and a few other people. Reading Einstein’s Dreams made me realize this omission of context is what makes the stories seem so dreamy. The vignettes in Einstein’s Dreams do not provide a complete picture of the worlds they live in; instead, they follow the stories of a few people and trace a few consequences out to completion. A man anguishes over a woman in a red hat. A student contemplates whether to move forward in time. A couple searches each other’s eyes for love in a world where time is discontinuous. Never do we explore the full worldly impact of different flows of time. Leaving so much unsaid makes the story seem misty and more powerful. I was struck by how Lightman managed to keep the ‘rules’ of each of the stories so well even as time was jumbled and different: each world seems very real, even though it takes place in a place subject to a different dimension.
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that is a true delight, and there's something to be said for the power of those unsaid moments. they seem to take advantage of a reader's willingness to find meaning, even when it isn't immediately evident.
ReplyDeleteThis post goes to show that sometimes the shortest posts are the most insightful. This never even occurred to me. Imagine if he was asked to turn one of the vignettes into a novel. It would almost certainly fall apart. It would be impossible to plausibly reason through the various societal implications where the higher you are, the slower time passes. What do cars look like here? Do people live on airplanes? How do they stay in flight. Everything would fundamentally fall apart, in just the same way that dreams make sense until you wake up and think wait a minute...
ReplyDeleteThanks Sam! I love the way you say "everything would fundamentally fall apart, in just the same way that dreams make sense until you wake up and think wait a minute...". This is exactly what I was trying to get at in my post.
DeleteDani, I couldn’t agree more when you say that Einstein’s Dreams felt both dreamy and real. It’s a little embarrassing to admit, but when I first read Lightman’s work, I couldn’t help but think that perhaps some of these fictional realities actually occurred. In particular, the story about people living at high altitudes because it slowed the aging process really stuck with me. On one hand, I could totally see people doing that. One the other, the concept itself didn’t sound that farfetched to me! Even the ‘dreamier’ vignettes, like the one where everyone knows the exact day the world will end, were underscored by such universal themes that they too felt real. We wouldn’t know the day the world would end, but we have all experienced the loss after the passing of a loved one, wishing only for one more day.
ReplyDeleteI think it's really interesting that you point this out, because I don't dream pretty much ever, so I never made this connection. However, when you present it as such, it really makes sense. I think this is what makes Lightman such a powerful storyteller, because he grants you the ability to experience these realities. Rather than explaining, he simply drops you enter the world he has created, and lets you discover things for yourself, which I think is a really beautiful style.
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