In Search of Klingsor

In Search of Klingsor
Jorge Volpi

Already an international bestseller, ‘In Search of Klingsor’ traces an American physicist’s thrilling search to unmask Hitler’s chief science advisor, the man whose work on the German atomic bomb threatened Allied security.In 1946, Francis Bacon, a brilliant young American physicist, is pursuing research under the guidance of Albert Einstein, Kurt Gödel and other great minds of modern science. But because of a series of personal indiscretions he is forced to accept an altogether different, more sinister, assignment: uncover ‘Klingsor’, Hitler's foremost advisor on the atomic bomb. But who is Klingsor and where might he be found?Bacon’s efforts to expose the truth take him to Germany and to Gustav Links, a survivor of the failed attempt to kill Hitler in 1944. With Links at his side, Bacon is able to reconstruct a map of European maths and physics and embark on a journey that will lead him to some of the greatest scientific thinkers of the time, including Heisenberg, Schrödinger and Böhr, all of them suspects. As the search for his seemingly omniscient adversary intensifies, Bacon is drawn deeper and deeper into the secrets and lies of post-war Europe and into a complicated relationship with a mysterious and alluring woman whose motives are unclear.Part mystery, part psychological puzzle, part spy story, ‘In Search of Klingsor’ is already an international bestseller. It has been compared with Umberto Eco's ‘The Name of the Rose’ in its ability to fuse its many elements – science, metaphysics, mathematics, philosophy – into a single compelling narrative and will delight anyone with an enquiring mind.

IN SEARCH OF KLINGSOR

Jorge Volpi

Translated by Kristina Cordero

DEDICATION (#ulink_2113c79a-ee03-5aeb-a468-8cd1653b4a00)

FOR ADRIAN, ELOY, GERARDO, NACHO, AND

PEDRO ANGEL, MY FELLOW CONSPIRATORS

CONTENTS

Cover (#u7b3217b6-ce21-5ff8-be46-bae7d103d444)

Title Page (#u9f0fc6ff-72dd-56bb-9cfd-65f364605264)

Dedication (#u3562f0ca-f8fe-5253-b612-32c8d30fb23a)

Epigraph (#u966c8efd-89ee-5f1f-832b-c51e810cfc35)

Preface (#ulink_d65868c0-8898-5077-abfe-40bf6269a525)

BOOK ONE

Laws of Narrative Motion (#ulink_1c5a106a-a3f5-5872-8382-08deb020c716)

LAW I: All narratives are written by a narrator

LAW II: All narrators offer one, singular truth (#ulink_7c495e55-2e77-5cfa-ad64-199d35478292)

LAW III: All narrators possess a motive for narrating (#ulink_67f68b8d-a788-5c30-a4f0-0dc2ee775dac)

Crimes of War (#ulink_f43b5901-1daf-5733-ad40-c13e08fe5fa5)

Hypotheses: From Quantum Physics to Espionage (#ulink_6f49c784-b7db-5cf0-9cd2-23ae2f8ac952)

HYPOTHESIS I: On Bacon’s Childhood and Early Years

HYPOTHESIS II: On Von Neumann and the War (#ulink_a4618353-fdd9-5171-89de-481725f28707)

HYPOTHESIS III: On Einstein and Love (#ulink_62098c0b-566f-5bc5-aaf3-af64bfe1d03c)

HYPOTHESIS IV: On Gödel’s Theory and Marriage (#ulink_8c68ba1a-e656-5624-9430-e9c2820552df)

HYPOTHESIS V: On Bacons Departure for Germany (#ulink_db437998-4864-5650-bf6c-ca1896489212)

Brief Autobiographical Disquisitions: From Set Theory to Totalitarianism (#litres_trial_promo)

DISQUISITION I: Infancy and the End of an Era

DISQUISITION II: Youth and Irrationality (#litres_trial_promo)

DISQUISITION III: The Arithmetics of Infinity (#litres_trial_promo)

DISQUISITION IV: Liberty and Lust (#litres_trial_promo)

DISQUISITION V: The Search for the Absolute (#litres_trial_promo)

The Uranium Circle (#litres_trial_promo)

Parallel Universes (#litres_trial_promo)

The Quest for the Holy Grail (#litres_trial_promo)

BOOK TWO

Laws of Criminal Motion (#litres_trial_promo)

LAW I: All crimes are committed by a criminal

LAW II: Every crime is the portrait of a criminal (#litres_trial_promo)

LAW III: Every criminal possesses a motive (#litres_trial_promo)

Max Planck, or a Lesson in Faith (#litres_trial_promo)

Reasons for Discouragement (#litres_trial_promo)

Johannes Stark, or a Lesson in Infamy (#litres_trial_promo)

The Game of War (#litres_trial_promo)

Werner Heisenberg, or a Lesson in Sadness (#litres_trial_promo)

The Dangers of Observation (#litres_trial_promo)

Erwin Schrodinger, or a Lesson in Desire (#litres_trial_promo)

The Laws of Attraction (#litres_trial_promo)

The Liar’s Paradox (#litres_trial_promo)

The Dimensions of Affection (#litres_trial_promo)