Includes bibliographical references (p. 277-285) and index.

Introduction : prefatory thoughts on two or more cultures -- What the modernists knew about the history of science from Pascal to Heisenberg -- Robert Musil and the dilemma of modernist epistemology -- Proust, Poincaré, and contingency -- Kafka's search for laws -- James Joyce and the laws of everything -- Modernist thought experiments after Joyce -- Conclusion : science and postmodernity.

"Examines the relationship between science and the fiction developed by modernists, including Musil, Proust, Kafka, and Joyce. Looks at Pascalian and Newtonian cosmology, Darwinism, epistemology, relativity theory, quantum mechanics, the development of modernist and postmodern fiction, positivism, and finally works by Woolf, Faulkner, and Borges"--Provided by publisher.

Electronic reproduction. Palo Alto, Calif. : ebrary, 2009. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ebrary affiliated libraries.