As She Climbed Across the Table
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| As She Climbed Across the Table | |
 First edition cover |
|
| Author | Jonathan Lethem |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Jacket design by David J. High |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel, science fiction |
| Publisher | Doubleday |
| Publication date | February 17, 1997 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Pages | 212 pp (first edition, hardcover) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-385-48517-4 (first edition, hardcover) |
As She Climbed Across the Table is a 1997 novel by the American writer Jonathan Lethem. This satirical science fiction story is set on the campus of fictional Beauchamp University in Northern California. Particle physicist Alice Coombs rooms with Philip Engstrand, a sociologist researching conflicts between and within disciplines. Their relationship drives the romantic aspect of this story.[1]
The physicists in Coombs's lab become obsessed with an artificially-created miniature black hole they call Lack, which appears to have its own personality and preferences. Alice develops a personal relationship with the artificial intelligence that they have created, while Philip becomes jealous of their relationship. Ultimately, Philip's curiosity leads him to explore the pocket universes inside Lack, although other physicists have preceded him, as have several fowl and B-84, a laboratory animal (cat). Lack has analysed the raw materials fed into it, and has produced at least two such domains. At the end of the novel, Philip and Lack merge with one another, and is reunited with Alice.
The novel deals thematically with many of the philosophical issues pertaining to modern quantum physics, as well as human interaction with artificial intelligence.
