D'Alembert's Principle (novel)

D'Alembert's Principle

First edition
Author	Andrew Crumey
Cover artist	Lise Weisgerber
Language	English
Genre	Literary Fiction
Published	06.06.1996
Publisher	Dedalus Books
Publication place	United Kingdom
Media type	Paperback, e-book
ISBN	978 1 873982 32 7

D'Alembert's Principle (Dedalus Books, 1996) is a novel by Andrew Crumey, and the second in a sequence of three set wholly or partly in the eighteenth century (the others being Pfitz and Mr Mee). It is in three sections, subtitled "Memory, Reason and Imagination". The U.S. edition was subtitled "A novel in three panels". It has been translated into French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Greek, Russian, Italian, Turkish and Romanian.^[1] It prompted El Mundo (Spain) to say "Crumey is one of the most interesting and original European authors of recent years."^[2]

The first section, recursively titled "D'Alembert's Principle", is a historical fiction depicting Jean le Rond D'Alembert, featuring his unrequited love for Julie de l'Espinasse, and describing the principle of physics named after him. The second section, "The Cosmography of Magnus Ferguson" is a speculative fiction about interplanetary travel by an eighteenth-century Scotsman. The third section, "Tales from Rreinnstadt", is a Menippean satire featuring the setting and title character from Pfitz.