One hundred twenty-one days. Translated from the 2014 French original by Christiana Hills (Q2834602)

The book under review is a novel by a mathematician and member of the Oulipo group. It draws upon the author's own historical research on the development of French mathematics during the twentieth century (see, for example, [Fatou, Julia, Montel. Le grand prix des sciences mathématiques de 1918, et après\dots (French). Berlin: Springer (2009; Zbl 1179.01017); English translation (2011; Zbl 1211.01007)]) to present a tale of the experiences of several (fictional) French mathematicians and their families through two world wars. The style varies from chapter to chapter: Chapter~2, for example, consists of diary entries, whilst Chapter~3 is compiled from a series of newspaper articles. As the book progresses, we begin to see that the various materials assembled in this way represent the files of a historian who is researching the lives of the people depicted. The story raises some interesting points about the writing of biographies, particularly of academics.