darrelj@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Darrel VanBuer) (11/20/84)
I recently read the novelisation of Castrovalva, and the forward mentions it's inspired by M. C. Escher's drawing of the same name (I have not had the opportunity to see the episode yet; locally they just started rerunning Baker). For those interested, Castrovalva is Figure 104 in Godel, Escher, Bach, An Eternal Golden Braid, by Douglas Hofstadter. The state in the later part of the novel evokes images like those in figures 22 and 23 (for me). -- Darrel J. Van Buer, PhD System Development Corp. 2500 Colorado Ave Santa Monica, CA 90406 (213)820-4111 x5449 ...{allegra,burdvax,cbosgd,hplabs,ihnp4,orstcs,sdcsvax,ucla-cs,akgua} !sdcrdcf!darrelj VANBUER@USC-ECL.ARPA
percus@acf4.UUCP (11/24/84)
By the way, the word "Castrovalva" seems to come from the Latin, 'castrum' meaning castle or fort, and 'valva' meaning doors or a gateway, so it's probably something like "The way to the castle" which, judging from the picture, is quite possible. percus@nyu-acf4
chas@ihuxe.UUCP (Charles Lambert) (12/04/84)
> By the way, the word "Castrovalva" seems to come from the > Latin, 'castrum' meaning castle or fort, and 'valva' meaning > doors or a gateway, so it's probably something like > "The way to the castle" which, judging from the picture, > is quite possible. > percus@nyu-acf4 I missed Percus' earlier article, but I guess that the picture referred to is the lithograph "Castrovalva", by the artist and mathematician M. C. Esher. It depicts a group of buidings atop a high cliff, like The Master's creation. Esher was fascinated by illusion, recursion and false perspectives in his art. Some of his drawings (eg. "Relativity", "Above and Below") show buildings where direction, even "up" and "down", makes no sense, and stairways finish up back where they started -- inspiration for the problems the Doctor faced when trying to get out of the place. I'd recommend any Who fans to look at Esher's work; it's definitely trans-dimensional! P.S. Everyone see the doctor-to-be in a recent episode? I hope that's not the only character-type in Colin Baker's repertoire. Chas.