A Truncated Manuscript

Abstract

In the mid-1980s, an enigmatic document began circulating in French mathematical circles. Entitled Récoltes et Semailles, it was a lengthy, philosophical and deeply personal tract from the elusive mathematician Alexander Grothendieck, by then living in self-imposed seclusion. Now published officially for the first time, Pierre Schapira casts a critical eye over the book and some notable omissions.