Reading Guide: Einstein's Dreams

Einstein's Dreams
by Alan Lightman

• Publishing Data • Preview • Background • Discussion Guide • Further Exploration •

Publishing Data

Published in 1993

Lightman's first work of fiction

Adapted for the stage by the Holderness Theatre Company at The Culture Project in New York City and had a brief run in 2003.

Preview

The novel purports to be a record of the dreams Albert Einstein had from mid-April to late June 1905, when he was working as a clerk in the Swiss Patent Office and formulating his theory of relativity. Each of 30 chapters consists of a description of an alternate city in Switzerland with a different perception of time; these dreams are interspersed with vignettes from Einstein’s life.

The conceit is that Einstein dreamed about time, conjuring up notion after notion of how God might have chosen to construct things

Background

Albert Einstein was one of the most poetically creative of scientists and one of the defining intellectual figures of the 20th century. Einstein is said to have worked more like an artist--by imagination and intuition—than like a scientist. His methodology makes crucial use of reverie—thought experiments—rather than equations.

To a physicist time is what a clock measures. To most of the rest of us it is irregular, like a current, sometimes swift and sometimes slow; this sense of time describes the dichotomy between objective and subjective time.

The novel makes the concept of time both accessible and full of wonder.

Discussion Guide

Characterize Einstein as he is presented in this novel. How is he portrayed in the interludes between the dreams?

One of these dreams describes the nature of time as it is described in Einstein's theories. Identify that dream.

Many of the dreams deal with lovers and potential lovers and the ways that they interact or fail to interact. What does Lightman seem to be saying about the nature of love?

You may be familiar with some of the theories of time described in these dreams from various science fiction stories, films, and television episodes. How many of these descriptions of time can you match to time travel stories that you are familiar with?

Characterize the people that populate these dreams. What do they represent?

Each variation of time has a different effect on the relationships between people. Discuss the psychological impact on the populace of these variations on time.

Does Lightman portray any consistent ways that people in these dreams are happy? What aspects of time seem to facilitate human happiness?

What are these dreams saying about the nature of time?

What are these dreams saying about the human condition?

Is this book a novel? Why or why not?

Further Exploration

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