Einstein's Dreams

Last updated
Einstein's Dreams
Einsteinsdreams.jpg
London, Vintage, 2004
Author Alan Lightman
LanguageEnglish
Genrenovel
Published1992
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint
Pages192
ISBN 0679416463

Einstein's Dreams [1] is a 1992 novel by Alan Lightman that was an international bestseller and has been translated into thirty languages. [2] It was runner up for the 1994 L. L. Winship/PEN New England Award. Einstein's Dreams was also the March 1998 selection for National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation" Book Club. The novel has been used in numerous colleges and universities, in many cases for university-wide adoptions in "common-book" [3] programs. New York Times book critic Michiko Kakutani wrote about the book: "As in Calvino's work, the fantastical elements of the stories are grounded in precise, crystalline prose. As in Jorge Luis Borges's ficciones, carefully observed particulars open out, like doors in an advent calendar, to disclose a magical, metaphysical realm beyond." [4]

Contents

Einstein's Dreams was first adapted for the stage by David Gardiner and Ralf Remshardt and performed at the University of Florida in 1996. An off-off-Broadway production of this stage version ran briefly at the New York Fringe Festival in 2001; it has also been performed in Beijing (2009).

A musical adaptation of Einstein's Dreams, with book and lyrics by Joanne Sydney Lessner and music and lyrics by Joshua Rosenblum had its international debut in Lisbon in 2005. A concert performance of the Lessner-Rosenblum adaptation took place at Symphony Space in New York in 2009, starring John Bolton and Kate Shindle. The performance was a benefit fundraiser for the Harpswell Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded by Lightman, whose mission is to advance a new generation of women leaders in southeast Asia.

The Lessner-Rosenblum musical had its Off-Broadway premiere at New York's 59E59 Theaters in November, 2019, produced by the Prospect Theater Company and directed by Cara Reichel.

Plot

The novel fictionalizes Albert Einstein as a young scientist who is troubled by dreams as he works on his theory of relativity in 1905. The book consists of 30 chapters, each exploring one dream about time that Einstein had during this period. The framework of the book consists of a prelude, three interludes, and an epilogue. Einstein's friend, Michele Besso, appears in these sections. Each dream involves a conception of time. Some scenarios may involve exaggerations of true phenomena related to relativity, and some may be entirely fantastical. The book demonstrates the relationship each human being has to time, and thus spiritually affirms Einstein's theory of relativity.

The novel is sometimes cited as the source of the apocryphal urban legend, the 'universal force' (of love), purportedly elucidated in a letter from Einstein to his daughter, Lieserl, but the novel does not contain 'the letter'. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moss Hart</span> American playwright, librettist and theater director

Moss Hart was an American playwright, librettist, and theater director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Lightman</span> American physicist, writer, and novelist (born 1948)

Alan Paige Lightman is an American physicist, writer, and social entrepreneur. He has served on the faculties of Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and is currently a professor of the practice of the humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Schwartz</span> American musical theatre lyricist and composer (born 1948)

Stephen Lawrence Schwartz is an American musical theatre composer and lyricist. In a career spanning over five decades, Schwartz has written hit musicals such as Godspell (1971), Pippin (1972), and Wicked (2003). He has contributed lyrics to a number of successful films, including Pocahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), The Prince of Egypt, Enchanted (2007), and Disenchanted (2022).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Menken</span> American composer (born 1949)

Alan Irwin Menken is an American composer and conductor, best known for his scores and songs for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and Skydance Animation. Menken's contributions to The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and Pocahontas (1995) won him two Academy Awards for each film. He also composed the scores and songs for Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Newsies (1992), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997), Home on the Range (2004), Enchanted (2007), Tangled (2010), Disenchanted (2022), and Spellbound (2024), among others. His accolades include winning eight Academy Awards — becoming the second most prolific Oscar winner in the music categories after Alfred Newman, a Tony Award, eleven Grammy Awards, seven Golden Globe Awards, and a Daytime Emmy Award. Menken is one of twenty-one people to have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Lapine</span> American stage director and librettist

James Elliot Lapine is an American stage director, playwright, screenwriter, and librettist. He has won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical three times, for Into the Woods, Falsettos, and Passion. He has frequently collaborated with Stephen Sondheim and William Finn.

Stephen Flaherty is an American composer of musical theatre and film. He works most often in collaboration with the lyricist/book writer Lynn Ahrens. They are best known for writing the Broadway musicals Ragtime, which was nominated for thirteen Tony Awards, two Grammy Awards, and won the Tony for Best Original Score; Once on This Island, which won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical, the Olivier Award for London's Best Musical, and was nominated for a Grammy Award and eight Tony Awards; and Seussical, which was nominated for the Grammy Award. Flaherty was also nominated for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards for his songs and song score for the animated film musical Anastasia.

<i>Sabbaths Theater</i> 1995 novel by Philip Roth

Sabbath's Theater is a novel by Philip Roth about the exploits of 64-year-old Mickey Sabbath. It won the 1995 U.S. National Book Award for Fiction. The cover is a detail of Sailor and Girl (1925) by German painter Otto Dix.

Frank Wildhorn is an American composer of both musicals and popular songs. His musical Jekyll & Hyde ran for four years on Broadway. He also wrote the hit song "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" for Whitney Houston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disney Theatrical Productions</span> Subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company

Disney Theatrical Productions Limited (DTP), also known as Disney on Broadway, is the stageplay and musical production company of the Disney Theatrical Group, a subsidiary of Disney Entertainment, a major division and business unit of The Walt Disney Company.

Gary William Friedman is an American musical theatre, symphonic, film and television composer. His career began in the 1960s in New York City as a saxophonist in an improvisational ensemble and as a composer for experimental theater. Friedman's 1970 musical, The Me Nobody Knows opened Off-Broadway and won the Obie Award for Best Music of a Musical before moving to Broadway and earning five Tony Award nominations. Friedman has also composed scores for numerous American films and television series such as PBS's children's television series, The Electric Company. His orchestral and operatic compositions have been commissioned by festivals and venues including the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

<i>The Night They Raided Minskys</i> 1968 musical film directed by William Friedkin

The Night They Raided Minsky's is a 1968 American musical comedy film written and produced by Norman Lear, with music and lyrics by the duo of Charles Strouse and Lee Adams, and directed by William Friedkin. Based on a 1960 novel by Rowland Barber, the film is a fictional account of the invention of the striptease at Minsky's Burlesque in 1925. It stars Jason Robards, Britt Ekland, Norman Wisdom, Forrest Tucker, Harry Andrews, Denholm Elliott, Elliott Gould and Bert Lahr.

Jeff Blumenkrantz is an American actor, composer and lyricist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven Sater</span> American poet

Steven Sater is a Tony Award, Grammy Award, and Laurence Olivier Award-winning American poet, playwright, lyricist, television writer and screenwriter. He is best known for writing the book and lyrics for the Tony Award-winning 2006 Broadway musical Spring Awakening.

Marcy Heisler is a musical theater lyricist and performer. As a performer, she has performed at Carnegie Hall, Birdland, and numerous other venues throughout the United States and Canada. Heisler was nominated for the 2009 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics for Dear Edwina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Vetere</span> American dramatist

Richard Vetere is an American playwright, screenwriter, television writer, poet and actor.

Joshua Rosenblum is an American composer, conductor, pianist, arranger, music journalist, and author. He has composed extensively for the concert hall as well as for musical theatre, and currently teaches Composing for Musical Theater at Yale University, his alma mater, as well as Conducting at New York University. As a pianist, he has performed frequently in the New York City area as soloist and accompanist, as well as in Broadway pit orchestras, and with the New York City Center Encores! Orchestra. He has conducted numerous Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, including How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Wonderful Town, Falsettos, Miss Saigon, and Anything Goes. He served as pianist and associate conductor for the hit 2022 Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Into the Woods, and can be heard playing on the Grammy-winning original cast recording.

Seth Numrich is an American stage, television, and film actor.

Laura Eason is an American playwright and screenwriter.

<i>Fermats Last Tango</i> 2000 off-Broadway musical

Fermat's Last Tango is a 2000 off-Broadway musical about the proof of Fermat's Last Theorem, written by husband and wife Joshua Rosenblum and Joanne Sydney Lessner. The musical presents a fictionalized version of the real life story of Andrew Wiles, and has been praised for the accuracy of the mathematical content. The original production at the York Theatre received mixed reviews, but the musical was well received by mathematical audiences. A video of the original production has been distributed by the Clay Mathematics Institute and shown at several mathematical conferences and similar occasions. The musical has also been translated into Portuguese.

Rob Rokicki is an American composer, lyricist, and musician. He is best known for writing the music and lyrics to the Broadway musical The Lightning Thief.

References

  1. ↑ Lightman, Alan (1992). Einstein's Dreams. London: Vintage. ISBN   0-446-67011-1.
  2. ↑ Overbye, Dennis (February 13, 2020). "Time is Still a Mystery to 'Einstein's Dreams' Author - Why Alan Lightman, astrophysicist turned writer, traded black holes for black ink". The New York Times . Retrieved February 13, 2020.
  3. ↑ "Einstein's Dreams". Archived from the original on 2 March 2005. Retrieved 2 April 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  4. ↑ Kakutani, Michiko (January 5, 1993). "Imagine How Time Might Behave Differently". The New York Times . Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  5. ↑ Mikkelson, David (28 April 2015). "A Universal Force". Snopes. Retrieved 13 June 2020.

Stage adaptations:

Music adaptations:

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.