The Infinities was published by Picador in 2009. Adam Godley, a famous mathematician who has made a revolutionary discovery about the nature of infinity, lies dying in his country house. His family gathers: his second wife Ursula, his son young Adam (himself a failed scholar), his daughter-in-law Helen. But also present, invisibly, are the gods of classical mythology — Hermes narrates, Zeus descends to seduce Helen (disguised as her husband), Pan lurks in the garden. The novel takes place over a single day, the last of old Adam’s life.
The premise is audacious: a domestic novel about family dysfunction and mortality narrated partly by a Greek god. But Banville makes it work through the consistency of his imaginative vision. The gods are not allegorical or symbolic but present — they experience time differently from mortals, they have desires and jealousies, they watch the Godley family with a mixture of amusement and incomprehension. Zeus’s seduction of Helen is written as comic-erotic set piece, both farcical and disturbing.
The mathematical element — Adam’s discovery about infinity — provides the novel’s philosophical architecture. If there are infinite worlds, infinitely various, then every possibility is realized somewhere. This is both consoling (nothing is ever truly lost) and terrifying (meaning requires limitation). The novel is lighter than much of Banville’s work — genuinely funny in places — but beneath the comedy runs the same preoccupation with loss, consciousness, and the inadequacy of language to capture experience.
Collecting The Infinities
First edition (Picador, London, 2009): Cloth with dust jacket.
Market values:
- UK first edition, fine/fine: $20–$50
- US first (Knopf, 2010), fine/fine: $15–$35
Projected values (2026–2036): Modest appreciation.
Gods Among Us
The Infinities (2009) is Banville’s most playful novel — narrated partly by the Greek god Hermes, who observes the Godley family gathering around the deathbed of the patriarch, Adam Godley, a famous mathematician. Zeus takes the form of a swan to seduce Adam’s daughter-in-law (a comic reworking of the Leda myth). The novel inhabits an alternate reality where figures like Kleist lived longer and mathematical breakthroughs altered history. It is light, witty, and surprisingly tender — a departure from Banville’s usual darkness.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this difficult Banville? No — it is among his most accessible novels, combining mythological comedy with family drama. The prose is as polished as ever, but the tone is warmer and more generous than in the darker Frames or Cleave novels.