Part 11 (1/2)
CHAPTER 37
Mad Hatter's Tea May - June 1959 May - June 1959
AFTER N NASH WAS COMMITTED, Alicia couldn't face staying at the West Medford house by herself, and in any case, the lease was due to expire May 1 Alicia telephoned Eether Alicia couldn't face staying at the West Medford house by herself, and in any case, the lease was due to expire May 1 Alicia telephoned Eether1 ”One day Alicia just called me up and said she wanted to share an apartment with me,” Emma recalled At first Emma was reluctant because she was afraid Alicia would insist on their finding an expensive place, but then it occurred to her that they hes So, on May 1, Alicia and Eme, halfway between MIT and Harvard ”One day Alicia just called me up and said she wanted to share an apartment with me,” Emma recalled At first Emma was reluctant because she was afraid Alicia would insist on their finding an expensive place, but then it occurred to her that they hes So, on May 1, Alicia and Eme, halfway between MIT and Harvard
Alicia indulged in no tears, hysteria, or unnecessary confidences She accepted what help she could get She had very little faith that anyone would co close friends like Arthur Mattuck, considered Nash her responsibility She defended herself against criticism of her decision to commit Nash, but only when pressed, as, for exa Nash at McLean, began to doubt that he was insane and demanded that Alicia justify her decision to have Nash locked up For a young wo to hurt her, to divorce her, and to take their money and run off to Europe, shewoman who had, in the throes of lovesickness, sat in the science fiction section of the library, hoping her idol would coth that she would need to draw on the rest of her life
Another young woone home to her parents But Alicia told herself that John's mind and career could be saved She focused on the crisis at hand as best she could and put herself in the capable hands of Eenda, her iron self-control, sense of entitlement, deep conviction that her own future depended on this norance of youth - all came to her aid in this very dark hour All her attention was focused on a single task - not the task of giving birth, but that of saving John Nash
”She never talked about the baby, only about Nash,” Enancy as a probleer to Nash She orried that it would interfere with her ability to take care of [hier to Nash She orried that it would interfere with her ability to take care of [hi-eared copy of Dr Spock's new best-selling baby ht table Alicia had no tinancy to end, but she had not looked beyond it She had vaguely assumed that her mother would coeain She barely paid any attention at all, in fact Even after the baby kept her awake nights with its vigorous kicks, she never talked about it
Emma recalled, ”The observation period [with Nash at McLean] was co Alicia that the crisis was precipitated by her pregnancy She asked her doctor to induce her labor He wouldn't”
On May 20, when Alicia's labor began, Nash was still in McLean and she was still living with Ean in her lower back Eventually she crawled into bed Emma was there The two of them couldn't decide whether the labor had started Later when her sister was about to give birth, Emma would buy an obstetrics textbook and discover that back labor was in fact quite common But at that s Finally, when the pains becaether, either she or Alicia telephoned fagi, who confirmed that, yes, indeed, it sounded like labor and said she would juht away and drive over She did and, after taking one look at Alicia, as by now looking quite scared, told her to get into the car and they'd drive to the hospital iht He weighed nearly nine pounds and was 215 inches long She did not give the baby a na would have to wait until his father ell enough to help choose one As it happened, the baby remained nameless for nearly a year
Alicia had still to bear Nash's anger The day after the birth, Nash ca-in Hospital to visit his wife and new son, having gotten peri Levinson does not reed this Another friend cah Nash's visit Alicia was lying in bed, looking tiny and wan Nash was sitting beside her Her dinner tray was on the table next to the bed At some point, Nash carefully took the napkin, stood up, and went over to a sign on the ith the name of the hospital on it and covered up the ”In” in the hospital's na Hospital” The visitor recalled, ”The i She observed what he was doing I made no comment I certainly didn't want the situation to escalate into speech”2 Nash's sense of humor had in no way deserted him On the afternoon of his release one week later, Nash went directly to the reeted everyone, and said he'd coht froraduate students and professors ere sipping tea ”They had everything but one: freedom!”3 A day or two later, Nash was back in the department He carefully posted hand-printed notices in the hallways announcing a ”co out party” The notices read: ”All the people who are important inweek, he went around to everyone's office and asked eachIf the person said ”Yes,” he asked them ”Why?”4 He referred to the party as a ”Mad Hatter's Tea,” and he asked people to dress up in costumes5 Whether the event was his idea or Alicia's isn't clear fagi Levinson, Norht that Alicia - as hoanized it for the purpose of thanking all of those who had visited Nash in McLean Whether the event was his idea or Alicia's isn't clear fagi Levinson, Norht that Alicia - as hoanized it for the purpose of thanking all of those who had visited Nash in McLean6 One graduate student, who said he went to New York that weekend to avoid it, remembered that it was held at Mattuck's apartment Mattuck doesn't remember it at all Very likely, it took place at 18 Treraduate student, who said he went to New York that weekend to avoid it, remembered that it was held at Mattuck's apartment Mattuck doesn't remember it at all Very likely, it took place at 18 Tre party”
The Nashes held at least one dinner party too The raduate on June 12, and he re event In 1997, he recalled: It was one of the s I've ever spent I went there and there was Alicia, the baby, and Alicia's ot up, Alicia's et up and place herself between hie dance It lasted a couple of hours Alicia had no idea who I was Everybody tried to act like everything was nor Nash couldn't sit still He'd bolt up and as soon as he did; Alicia's mother would juet anywhere near the baby7
Nash was determined to leave for Europe as soon as possible He wrote to Hor whether Hor the su to Sweden that su for ”(nominal) mathematical associations” to justify the trip8 And he wrote to Armand and Gaby Borel, ere in Switzerland at the time, to ask that they help him obtain Swiss citizenshi+p And he wrote to Armand and Gaby Borel, ere in Switzerland at the time, to ask that they help him obtain Swiss citizenshi+p9 Nash was also detern his MIT professorshi+p Furious that MIT had connived in his involuntary hospitalization, Nash ”dranation10 and simultaneously demanded that MIT release a small pension fund that had accumulated from the time he joined the full-time faculty and simultaneously demanded that MIT release a small pension fund that had accumulated frohast With Martin and others, he tried to persuade Nash that what he wished to do was nation Levinson acted in the most altruistic fashi+on He ell aware of the heavy expenses of medical treatment, and he was anxious for Nash to retain the insurance coverage that MIT provided its faculty i said ”He felt responsible for hihast With Martin and others, he tried to persuade Nash that what he wished to do was nation Levinson acted in the most altruistic fashi+on He ell aware of the heavy expenses of medical treatment, and he was anxious for Nash to retain the insurance coverage that MIT provided its faculty i said ”He felt responsible for him”12 Martin recalled, ”It was a very difficult period By the tined, he couldn't meet his classes and people felt that he had no hope of any recovery We were on the spot I couldn't even talk to hi a coherent conversation with him Levinson always backed Nash to the hilt There was no pressure on nation]”13'
But Nash was intransigent At Levinson's urging, the university ad his pension money, but here too Nash prevailed On June 23, James Faulkner, a physician affiliated with MIT, telephoned Warren Stearns on behalf of MIT's president, James Killian, to say that the university was extre to Paul Saain took the position that Nash was not insane and was fully co to Paul Saain took the position that Nash was not insane and was fully coal sense, to ible, but once the check was issued, Nash's last forible, but once the check was issued, Nash's last fornation, he ran into one of his for hiuistics When Wan expressed surprise, Nash said that mathematicians had a unique ability to ”abstract the essence of a field That is e can move fro on the Queen Mary Queen Mary in early July Alicia tried to dissuade hio, she made up her mind to accompany him and to leave their son behind in her mother's care in early July Alicia tried to dissuade hio, she made up her mind to accompany him and to leave their son behind in her mother's care
Nash had an invitation to spend the year in Paris at the College de France, the leading French center of mathematics Alicia hoped that a fewnew faces, would let Nash forget his dreaovernht settle down to work again To Nash, however, the journey seemed to promise a more permanent escape from his old life He talked as if they were never to return
They drove down to New York and said their good-byes to Alicia's cousins The occasion was uneventful except that Nash had refused to eat facing the hugetable17 They left their Mercedes, its trunk full of old They left their Mercedes, its trunk full of old issues of issues of The New York Ti lot in Princeton Nash wished to bequeath both car and newspapers to Hassler Whitney, thelot in Princeton Nash wished to bequeath both car and newspapers to Hassler Whitney, the mathematician whom he most admired18 They left their baby - not yet named and therefore referred to as Baby Epsilon, a little mathematical joke - behind as well Alicia's mother had already taken the infant hoton They left their baby - not yet named and therefore referred to as Baby Epsilon, a little mathematical joke - behind as well Alicia's mother had already taken the infant horeed, would join them in Paris with the baby as soon as they were settled Mrs Larde, they had agreed, would join them in Paris with the baby as soon as they were settled
PART FOUR
The Lost Years
CHAPTER 38
Citoyen du Monde Paris and Geneva, 195960 Paris and Geneva, 195960
I have a difficult task ahead of me and I have dedicated my whole life to it
- K, in The Castle, Castle, by F by FRANZ K KAFKA
I seee To muse on my own separate fantasy
- PERCY B BYSSHE S ShellEY, ”Mont Blanc” ”Mont Blanc”
SHORTLY AFTER Independence Day, Nash and Alicia left from New York harbor on the Independence Day, Nash and Alicia left fro by the rail with the rest of the throng They watched the pier, then the skyline, then the Statue of Liberty move away from them as they sailed slowly toward the open sea They looked very much as they had a year earlier when they'd ee - he tall, well dressed, and handsome, she slender, small, and delicate - but less anihts standing by the rail with the rest of the throng They watched the pier, then the skyline, then the Statue of Liberty move away from them as they sailed slowly toward the open sea They looked very much as they had a year earlier when they'd ee - he tall, well dressed, and handsome, she slender, small, and delicate - but less anihts
The Nashes reached London on July 18 after a ”restful” crossing1 Two days later they were in Paris Two days later they were in Paris2 The beauty of Paris overwhelmed them just as it had a year earlier, ”verdure everywherewith the giant blue Paris pigeons bolting above it, two by two” The beauty of Paris overwhelmed them just as it had a year earlier, ”verdure everywherewith the giant blue Paris pigeons bolting above it, two by two”3 For a few hours after they eed from the Gare St-Lazare and ruously naht of the e seemed to lift froain They set out, that afternoon, for the American Express Office to buy francs and to inquire if they had anythe summer, the Place de L'Opera was croith Aht, they immediately spotted the familiar face of John Moore, a mathematician Nash knew from MIT, ould soon become co-chairman of theoutside the Cafe de la Paix, reading, when he looked up and saw the Nashes ”I was surprised, but not surprised,” Moore recalled in 1995 ”A lot of h I noticed nothing unusual” For a few hours after they eed from the Gare St-Lazare and ruously naht of the e seemed to lift froain They set out, that afternoon, for the American Express Office to buy francs and to inquire if they had anythe summer, the Place de L'Opera was croith Aht, they immediately spotted the familiar face of John Moore, a mathematician Nash knew from MIT, ould soon become co-chairman of theoutside the Cafe de la Paix, reading, when he looked up and saw the Nashes ”I was surprised, but not surprised,” Moore recalled in 1995 ”A lot of h I noticed nothing unusual”4 What their real plans were at the time, Alicia was later unable to say She had followed Nash to Europe, not because she hoped that Paris would provide a cure for his troubles, but because she had no way of stopping hi the case, she had not been able to bear seeing hie land, alone, without someone to watch over him But, in those first few days in Paris, the Nashes behaved as if this would be their new hoe course at the Sorbonne and looked around for s5 Her twenty-year-old cousin Odette, as planning to spend the year at the University of Grenoble, happened to be in Paris, too The two young woether until they found a pretty, clean, and spacious flat for the Nashes at 49 Avenue de la Republique, in a nondescript but perfectly respectable blue-collar neighborhood on the Right Bank Her twenty-year-old cousin Odette, as planning to spend the year at the University of Grenoble, happened to be in Paris, too The two young woether until they found a pretty, clean, and spacious flat for the Nashes at 49 Avenue de la Republique, in a nondescript but perfectly respectable blue-collar neighborhood on the Right Bank6 Paris, indeed all of Europe, was sizzling hot that July The newspapers were full of heat-wave stories, including one about a parked car that had burst into flaenuine case of spontaneous combustion The rear windshi+eld had apparently acted like a lass and sonited7 The net for alienated and disaffected Americans and full of self-declared exiles of the Silent Generation, was hot as well The war in Algeria raged on, with its right-wing terrorist bos, its civilian massacres, its tortures The city reverberated with mass demonstrations, strikes, and explosions And the latest word on the nuclear arms race - the American announcement that it now could match Russia's ICBMs, missile for missile - left open the question of whether the world wasn't in for another, more deadly case of spontaneous conet for alienated and disaffected Americans and full of self-declared exiles of the Silent Generation, was hot as well The war in Algeria raged on, with its right-wing terrorist bos, its civilian massacres, its tortures The city reverberated with mass demonstrations, strikes, and explosions And the latest word on the nuclear arms race - the American announcement that it now could match Russia's ICBMs, missile for missile - left open the question of whether the world wasn't in for another, more deadly case of spontaneous coh political theater influenced Nash's htened sense of purpose Acting on ”special” knowledge, Nash was anies of his forhtness of this he believed with absolute certainty, resisting any and all atteive up his ”silly” notions Having resigned his professorshi+p, having left not only Caiven up mathematics for politics, he wished, quite simply, to shed the layers of his old identity like so overnment, and the related concept of world citizenshi+p, were at their heyday during Nash's Princeton graduate-school days and permeated the 1950s science fiction that Nash devoured as a student and afterward Founded after the collapse of the League of Nations in the 1930s, the one-world movement exploded into the national consciousness within a few years of the end of World War II Princeton was a center of that ely because of the presence of physicists and mathematicians - notably Albert Einstein and John von Neue8 One of Nash's conte logician, the assistant to One of Nash's conte logician, the assistant to Einstein, and later the president of Darte - was a leader of the World Federalists Einstein, and later the president of Darte - was a leader of the World Federalists