The Relationship between Literature and Science in John Banville's Scientific Tetralogy

Starting from the debate between the two cultures, the book analyzes the relationship between literature and science in the last years of the twentieth century, in the light of scientific theories which universally underline both their indeterminacy and their lack of universal values (Relativity Theory, Quantum Mechanics, the Uncertainty Principle, Chaos Theory). Scientific theories are echoed in literary texts but also a reverse influence from literature to science has taken place. John Banville's scientific tetralogy focuses on the figures of those scientists who contributed to a paradigm shift in the world view from the early modernity to the present. The book underlines how science appears to follow the same epiphanic creative process as literature in its understanding of, and theorizing upon, an enigmatic sort of reality