Mathematical Texts
Biographical Texts
Photograph Album
Circle Members
Biographical Information

 

Grothendieck's non-mathematical writings

 

Récoltes et Semailles, Réflexions et témoignages sur un passé de mathématicien (1985-86) -- A many volume partly autobiographical memoir describing Grothendieck's life as a mathematician.

 

La Clef des Songes - ou Dialogue avec le Bon Dieu -- This book in French (6 chapters, 315 pages, plus hundreds of pages of added notes) describes Grothendieck's arrival at the conviction of the existence of God, through his discovery of the meaning and significance of dreams. It also contains a wealth of personal biographical details on his early childhood, on the period spent in a French internment camp for undesirables during World War II and then in the Protestant foyer for Jewish children in Le Chambon sur Lignon, and on his parents.

A four-page summary
Table of contents and chapters I,II,III (136 pages),
Chapters IV and V (132 pages),
Chapter VI (47 pages)

Notes pour la Clef des Songes from the website L'Astrée

Die Mutanten, a 34-page essay by W. Scharlau, in German except for the introduction, about one section of La Clef des Songes, called Les Mutants, discussing 18 individuals who according to Grothendieck were far ahead of their time.

Spanish translation of about 20 pages of Grothendieck's 500 pages of Notes to La Clef des Songes.

 

1970 Lecture -- Responsabilité du savant dans le monde d'aujourd'hui -- text from June 1970 written after a lecture given by Grothendieck at the University of Orsay, south of Paris.

 

Survivre et Vivre. -- This bulletin of the ecological association of the same name, edited by C. Chevalley, A. Grothendieck and P. Samuel, appeared at regular intervals from 1970 to 1973 (?) Many of the articles were written and signed by Grothendieck.

Survivre No. 1: August 1970   No. 1,
Survivre Nos. 2-3: September-October 1970   Nos. 2-3,
Survivre No. 4: December 1970   No. 4,
Survivre No. 5: December 1970   No. 5,
Survivre No. 6: January 1971   No. 6,
Survivre No. 7: February-May 1971   No. 7,
Survivre No. 8: June-July 1971   No. 8 Part 1,   No. 8 Part 2
Survivre No. 9: August-September 1971   No. 9,
Survivre No. 10: October-November 1971   No. 10,
Survivre No. 11: Spring 1971   No. 11,
Survivre No. 12: June 1972   No. 12,
Survivre No. 14: October-November 1972   No. 14,
Survivre No. 15: January-February 1973   No. 15,
Survivre No. 16: undated   No. 16,
Survivre No. 19: undated   No. 19,

Bulletins de Liaison de Survivre et Vivre. -- These are supplements to the issues of Survivre et Vivre above.

Bulletin de Liaison Nos. 1-5 preceded by a discussion of the nature of bulletins de liaisons    BL. 1-5.
Bulletin de Liaison Nos. 7-10    BL. 7-10.
Bulletin de Liaison Nos. 11-12    BL. 11-12.
Bulletin de Liaison Nos. 13-14    BL. 13-14.

 

Extracts, Letters and Lectures

Crafoord Prize- Letter to journals and newspapers on the refusal of the Crafoord Prize

Departure from IHES- Extract from the Clef des Songes on his departure from the IHES in 1970

Lecture at CERN- A lecture delivered by Grothendieck at the Centre Européen our la Recherche Nucléaire in Geneva, in January 1972

Two letters on physics, to A.Y., dating from June 24, 1991 (two months before Grothendieck's disappearance): In Tex    Scan

A letter to Luca Barbieri Viale (Scan)

 

Grothendieck's report on Vietnam (1967)

Grothendieck wrote this report on his return to the IHES from a one-month visit to Vietnam in November 1967.