The Name of the Game: Applying Game Theory in Literature
Herbert De Ley · SubStance · 1988
There has been no lack of general theorizing about games and their possible relationship to literature from Huizinga, to Fink, to Caillois. From the very beginnings of mathematical game theory in 1944 or earlier, it seemed likely that system applicable to real decision-making and hypothetical scenariosnotably in the domain of nuclear strategy-might have application to fictional, literary decision-making and scenarios as well. In landmark number of the Yale French Studies Jacques Ehrmann wrote that any theory of communicationand hence of literature-must necessarily imply a theory of play... and game theory. Literary researchers, he concluded, would one day surely open dialogue with our colleagues in the sciences. Moreover, any such rapprochement of literary research and the sciences would likely complement other systems that seek rigorously to describe narration. In particular, it might well relate to narrative semiotics-as recent article by A. J. Greimas, reprinted in SubStance, implicitly suggests.' Despite such theorizing however-and despite number of applications of such writers as Caillois to literary works, has been little application of mathematical game theory and related concepts to specific texts. More literally than is usually the case with such statements, the application of mathematical game theory to literature is neglected field. The major and perhaps unique exception to this is 1980 book by Steven J. Brams, Biblical Games (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1980). In Biblical Games Brams states that to the best of his knowledge there has not previously been book-length treatment of humanistic or literary work that makes serious use of game theory-a statement my own search would seem to confirm. Despite its remarkable originality, Brams' work has apparently attracted little attention among students of critical methodology. Although favorably reviewed in The New York Times, it has not been reviewed in SubStance or, apparently, in any comparable journal. The PMLA Bibliography does not list it. Yet Brams' pioneering method has application in wide variety of literary studies. His emphases, his blindness and insight, so to speak, invite constructive comparison with those of game-oriented analysis.