Saberhagen, Joan 1943- (Joan Spicci)

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SABERHAGEN, Joan 1943- (Joan Spicci)

PERSONAL:

Born June 16, 1943, in Chicago, IL; daughter of Joseph and Theresa (Ribandt) Spicci; married Fred Saberhagen (an author), 1968; children: Jill, Eric, Tom. Education: Loyola University, B.S. (mathematics), 1964; DePaul University, M.Ed. (secondary mathematics education), 1968; attends University of New Mexico (Russian language and history).

ADDRESSES:

Home and office—P.O. Box 11243, Albuquerque, NM 87192. Agent—Eleanor Wood, Spectrum Literary Agency, 320 Central Park W., Suite 1-D, New York, NY 10025. E-mail—joan@joanspicci.com; jsabe@berserker.com; jsabe@thuntek.net.

CAREER:

Author, independent scholar, and author's assistant to Fred Saberhagen. Has worked as a high school mathematics teacher, database manager, and president of her own electronics game company.

MEMBER:

Association for Women in Mathematics.

WRITINGS:

(As Joan Spicci) Beyond the Limit: The Dream of Sofya Kovalevskaya, Forge Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Contributor of short entries on mathematics to Encyclopedia Britannica, 1970s. Technical writer for computer game manuals. Contributor to Personal Computing. Coeditor, with Fred Saberhagen, of Pawn to Infinity, Ace, 1981; assistant editor of Spadeful of Spacetime, Ace, 1981. Translator of letters of Sofya Kovalevskaya.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Infinite Rotations: The Career of Sofya Kovaleskaya (tentative title), a sequel to Beyond the Limit: The Dream of Sofya Kovaleskaya; Hypatia Newton: And Then There Was War, an historical adventure.

SIDELIGHTS:

Trained as a mathematics teacher, Joan Saberhagen, who writes under her maiden name Joan Spicci, brings professional expertise to Beyond the Limit: The Dream of Sofya Kovalevskaya, her fictionalized account of the life of the first woman to obtain a doctorate degree in mathematics. Kovalevskaya, who lived from 1850 to 1891, struggled against considerable odds to develop her talents. Though Russia teemed with revolutionary feeling in the 1860s, when Kovalevskaya was a teenager, women still had few rights and were barred from admission to universities. The novel describes how Sofya and her older sister, Anyuta, devised a bold solution: one of them would marry a sympathetic man, and the couple would then travel abroad so that they could sponsor their Russian feminist friends at European universities. Accordingly, Sofya married Vladimir Kovalevsky and moved with him to Austria and Germany. While sponsoring other ambitious women scholars, Sofya also completed her own doctoral work, studying with the leading mathematicians of the time.

Yet tension grew when Vladimir realized that he loved his wife and wished to consummate their platonic relationship. Sofya, however, worried that a pregnancy could derail her studies, and resisted his advances. Meanwhile, Anyuta moved to Paris with her French Socialist husband and became involved with revolutionary politics. Sofya arranged for her sister's safety, while also seeking a way to save her relationship with Kovalevsky.

A writer for Kirkus Reviews observed that Saberhagen "meticulously details the turbulent times" in which her subject lived, though Sofya herself is less fully portrayed. Still, the critic praised the book as "an intriguing …portrait of an unusual marriage."

Saberhagen told CA: "My interest in writing comes from a desire to communicate and share ideas and information that I find fascinating. The structure of story allows me to share and, with luck, to recreate in the reader those ideas and feelings.

"Research accounts for the majority of my time on a project. My work is influenced by a strong interest in the history of women in science and an interest in nineteenth-century Russian history. As might be expected, my husband is a tremendous influence on my life and work. His example of professionalism and his belief in my abilities have kept me writing.

"Beyond the Limit is my first published book. The personality of Kovalevskaya has fascinated me for many years. I hope my books provide an enjoyable, thought-provoking experience for the reader."