59 pages • 1 hour read
Marie BenedictThe Other Einstein: A novel
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2016A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Physics
In this novel, the language and theories of physics are central to theme, plot, and characterization. Physics is the driving force of both Einstein’s and Mileva’s passion. It is what brings them together and tears them apart. At first, they bond over their mutual love for physics, but when Einstein has the chance to become famous in the physics world, he takes control over their mutual love and bars her from physics. Without physics in her life, Mileva becomes a hollower version of herself. Thus, physics is a symbol for wellbeing and passion. It is also the way Mileva contextualizes the world around her. Toward the end of the book and her marriage, she starts using terms from physics to describe the cause-and-effect relationship of her life with Albert. Physics is an important symbol because it keeps Mileva connected to her deceased daughter, Lieserl. The theory of relativity is born out of her grief for her child, so physics becomes a symbolic way of keeping Lieserl’s memory alive.
The Maschinchen
The Maschinchen is a machine that Mileva and Albert invented. It is a symbol of their collaboration and of Mileva’s imaginative intellect. Meant to be a symbol of equality, the Maschinchen turns into a symbol of inequality when he leaves her name off the patent. The Maschinchen is stolen intellectual property, yet another major symbol of the couple’s division. Notably, in response to being left off the patent, Mileva evokes the last name Einstein, which means “one stone,” as a way of concealing her own concerns; she pretends in front of their friends that they share their discoveries and act as one mind, but, in reality, what is Mileva’s is Albert’s, but what is Albert’s is also Albert’s. The Maschinchen is a symbol of their inequality and of Einstein’s possessive nature; he appropriates everything she works to build and every major discovery she helps develop.
Zürich
Zürich, Switzerland, is an important setting in the novel, so important that it becomes a symbol of contentment and peace. Zürich is where a young Mileva finds her confidence and finally makes friends with other young women, a formative experience that creates the stronger sense of self that she will need to survive her marriage. It is also the only place where she and Albert are happy together. They first meet and fall in love in Zürich, with Swiss intellectual progressivism as their backdrop. Their marriage is fraught with tension, but when they move back to Zürich, Mileva again finds a happier footing. She feels safe there and enjoys her friends in the city. It is a place she hates to leave, particularly when she has her two sons. As other European cities find themselves embroiled in conflicts and wars, Zürich remains a safe place for Jewish people and for immigrants, furthering its symbolism as a safe and peaceful home for Mileva. Finally, when she divorces Albert, she returns to Zürich and spends the remainder of her life there. In her third stage of life in Zürich, Mileva finds herself again. She becomes a tutor to young female scientists and frees herself of her past internal conflicts. Zürich offers peace, freedom, and personal growth.
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By Marie Benedict
