It was Plato who claimed Sappho, the great lyric poet, as the 10th muse, joining her in sisterhood with the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, who bestowed divine inspiration across the arts and sciences. In The Tenth Muse, the US novelist Catherine Chung favours a different version of the myth. In her telling, equal parts Brothers Grimm and feminist call to arms, there were not nine daughters born to Mnemosyne but 10. The first nine came of age and duly assumed their gifts but, when it was her turn, the youngest refused. “She did not wish to sing in the voices of men, telling only the stories they wished to tell. She preferred to sing her songs herself.” Her weeping sisters implored her to change her mind, but the 10th muse would not budge. She chose instead to live as a mortal, free to use her voice as she chose.
Chung evokes the beauty of mathematics, the exhilarating grace and precision of its patterns
Related: From Alice in Wonderland to the Hitchhiker's Guide: top 10 books about mathematics
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