"Cadaeic Cadenza" is a 1996
short story
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...
by
Mike Keith. It is an example of
constrained writing
Constrained writing is a literary technique in which the writer is bound by some condition that forbids certain things or imposes a pattern.
Constraints are very common in poetry, which often requires the writer to use a particular verse form.
...
, a story with restrictions on how it can be written. It is also one of the most prodigious examples of
piphilology
Piphilology comprises the creation and use of mnemonic techniques to remember many digits of the mathematical constant . The word is a play on the word "pi" itself and of the linguistic field of philology.
There are many ways to memorize , inclu ...
, being written in "
pilish". The word "
cadaeic" is the alphabetical equivalent of 3.141593, the first six decimal digits of pi when rounded, where each digit is replaced by the Nth letter of the alphabet; a
cadenza is a solo passage in music.
In addition to the main restriction, the author attempts to mimic portions, or entire works, of different types and pieces of literature ("
The Raven
"The Raven" is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. First published in January 1845, the poem is often noted for its musicality, stylized language, and supernatural atmosphere. It tells of a distraught lover who is paid a myst ...
", "
Jabberwocky
"Jabberwocky" is a nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll about the killing of a creature named "the Jabberwock". It was included in his 1871 novel ''Through the Looking-Glass'', the sequel to '' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865). The ...
", the lyrics of
Yes, "
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", commonly known as "Prufrock", is the first professionally published poem by American-born British poet T. S. Eliot (1888–1965). Eliot began writing "Prufrock" in February 1910, and it was first publishe ...
", ''
Rubaiyat'', ''
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
'', and
Carl Sandburg
Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg ...
's ''Grass'') in story, structure, and rhyme.
The limitations
When the number of letters in each word is written out they form the first 3835 digits of
pi.
:
While in this example each word is the same number of letters as the next digit of pi (and ten letters for the digit 0), some sections use words of more than ten letters as a one followed by another digit:
:
where 11 represents two consecutive digit "1"s in pi.
Taking "A" as 1, "B" as 2, "C" as 3, etc., the name of the piece itself is based on pi, as "Cadaeic" is the first 7 digits of pi, when rounded to that number of
significant digit
Significant figures (also known as the significant digits, ''precision'' or ''resolution'') of a number in positional notation are digits in the number that are reliable and necessary to indicate the quantity of something.
If a number expres ...
s.
C a d a e i c
3.1 4 1 5 9 3
Near a Raven
The first part of ''Cadaeic Cadenza'' is slightly changed from an earlier version, "Near a Raven", which was a retelling of
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wid ...
's "
The Raven
"The Raven" is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. First published in January 1845, the poem is often noted for its musicality, stylized language, and supernatural atmosphere. It tells of a distraught lover who is paid a myst ...
".
Near A Raven
cadaeic.net
See also
*Six nines in pi
A sequence of six consecutive nines occurs in the decimal representation of the number pi (), starting at the 762nd decimal place.. It has become famous because of the mathematical coincidence and because of the idea that one could memorize the d ...
(handled at the start of chapter 2, "Change")
References
External links
Cadaeic Cadenza
Mnemonics
Pi
Constrained writing
{{Mathematics-lit-stub