Talk:The Garin Death Ray

Paraboloid vs. Hyperboloid

"Two scientific blunders"

The mention of two scientific blunders (first, only a paraboloid collects the incoming light into a point, and second, the rays of incoming light would have to be parallel), is self-defeating. For any smooth concave surface, including a paraboloid, there is a shape of the incoming light field that the surface in question will focus into a point. That field is straightforward to discover: place into the focal point a point light source that radiates in every direction. Reversing the light rays reflected off the surface in question will give us the incoming light field.

The device in A.N. Tolstoy's novel draws its radiant energy from multiple cones or pyramids of compressed fine coal powder, arranged in a doughnut formation and ignited. This is far from a parallel light field, and a paraboloid cannot be ruled out as being able to concentrate a substantial portion of it into a small spot.

Phonetics

In footnotes to a Soviet edition of the novel, I had read that the differences between paraboloid and hyperboloid surfaces have been brought up to the author's attention by friends even during the early readings of the novel in draft form. A.N. Tolstoy had chosen to keep the hyperboloid, because in Russian the word Гиперболоид (Hyperboloid) starts with a G, a velar consonant, echoed by the G in Garin, and making the 3rd letter "p" of "hyperboloid" the only dry consonant in the entire title. "Paraboloid", to a Russian ear, is more raspy and dry. It is an amazing sounding title, and Nabokov's praise (who himself was a keen observer and master practitioner of rhythm and sound of the prose) is not unexpected. Alex.K.NY (talk) 00:16, 9 March 2015 (UTC)

Untitled

• I have expanded it, by transferring from raygun. Anthony Appleyard 09:16, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

Re-interpretation of "hyperboloid"

• Ref. any good textbook of ancient Greek. Anthony Appleyard

  It is not relevant. Is there any literature criticist that said it may be re-interpretation? For me it seems rather coincidence. The device as it described in the book contained a hyperbolic mirror, which is why it is named so.--Nixer 08:22, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

  Ditto. I'm tagging it with {{fact}} for the time being. -- Grafikm ^(AutoGRAF) 08:27, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

Page moving

Please fix double redirects before moving.--Nixer 21:15, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

social matters of the content

It should be mentioned somehow that the society described in the novel reflects the sovjet ideology of this time. In 1927 Tolstoi writes his novel about the ideology of Garin, who points out that there should be somethousand people kept alive. All other human beings all over the world have to die, so that there will grow a new gerneration of people - people who have "the right" to exist. One could think, he describes nazi ideology before it came up. But in fact he descirbes socialism. Already Lenin followed Marx' and Engels' idea of "eliminating" those who don't fit in the society they wanted to build, so that the remainig people are able to bring up a new generation... In 1919 the sovjets had already 21 extermination camps to achiev this aim... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 139.18.189.84 (talk) 12:08, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

• Oh, that's why at the end of the novel Garin's regime is destroyed by the world socialist revolution? :) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 178.249.66.130 (talk) 13:00, 1 February 2013 (UTC)