The System of the World's title refers to three significant ideas. First, it refers to the world of global finance, as remade by England. The basis of this financial alchemy is the idea of currency, the second financial metaphor central to the book, as explicated in a conversation between Sophie, the Electress of Hanover, and Princess Caroline:
"Did piles of gold materialize on the banks of the Thames, as in a miracle? (…) all the gold is in England! It is dug up from Portuguese and Spanish mines, but it flows, by some occult power of attraction, to the tower of London."
"Did piles of gold materialize on the banks of the Thames, as in a miracle? (…) all the gold is in England! It is dug up from Portuguese and Spanish mines, but it flows, by some occult power of attraction, to the tower of London."
"Flows," Caroline repeated, "flows like a current."
Sophie nodded. "And the English have grown so used to this that they use 'currency' as a synonym for 'money' as if no distinction need be observed between them."
Caroline said, "Is this the answer to your question-how does a poor country defeat rich ones?"
"Indeed. The answer is, not by acquiring wealth, in the sense that France has it-"
"Meaning vineyards, farms, peasants, cows-"
"But rather to play a sort of trick, and redefine wealth to mean something novel."
"Currency! (…) I am pleased by the cleverness of this trick that the English have played, to win wars against their betters by tinkering with what wealth is. (…) But I am troubled by the uncertainty that all of this brings. To paraphrase a wise man I know, it is as though a new System of the World has been drawn up. And not by us but by some strange Natural Philosophers in a smoky room in London." (pp. 337-338)
Sophie nodded. "And the English have grown so used to this that they use 'currency' as a synonym for 'money' as if no distinction need be observed between them."
Caroline said, "Is this the answer to your question-how does a poor country defeat rich ones?"
"Indeed. The answer is, not by acquiring wealth, in the sense that France has it-"
"Meaning vineyards, farms, peasants, cows-"
"But rather to play a sort of trick, and redefine wealth to mean something novel."
"Currency! (…) I am pleased by the cleverness of this trick that the English have played, to win wars against their betters by tinkering with what wealth is. (…) But I am troubled by the uncertainty that all of this brings. To paraphrase a wise man I know, it is as though a new System of the World has been drawn up. And not by us but by some strange Natural Philosophers in a smoky room in London." (pp. 337-338)
The second meaning of The System of the World is, in a small self-referential nod, the title of the third and final volume of Newton's masterwork, the Principia, which is in many respects the birth of modern science. Modern science supplanting alchemy as the system that provides the best and most complete understanding of the world is the last and perhaps the most important of these ideas-indeed, so important that the first meaning is considered by Princess Caroline to be analogous to this meaning. It is this idea-the birth of modern science and the death of alchemy-that drives the entire Baroque Cycle.
Most historical novels focus primarily in people and events; they concern themselves with either costume drama or the psychological examination of past lives. Stephenson focuses less on people-Newton is less a cipher than before, but still more a cog than a character-and more on the ideas that motivate them to action. In this sense, he is still writing science fiction, even if it is mostly plausible and set three hundred years in the past. This is not intended at all as a disparaging remark: science fiction has become the literature of ideas of the new century, and Stephenson is perhaps its foremost practitioner.
Most historical novels focus primarily in people and events; they concern themselves with either costume drama or the psychological examination of past lives. Stephenson focuses less on people-Newton is less a cipher than before, but still more a cog than a character-and more on the ideas that motivate them to action. In this sense, he is still writing science fiction, even if it is mostly plausible and set three hundred years in the past. This is not intended at all as a disparaging remark: science fiction has become the literature of ideas of the new century, and Stephenson is perhaps its foremost practitioner.
It will be interesting to see where he goes next: writers seem to have quite a bit of difficulty abandoning a world as fully-realized as what Stephenson has created in this trilogy. Certainly there is a lot here that remains unexplored, though after writing so many pages, perhaps Stephenson has tired of this world. However, from the evidence presented in The System of the World, he is still having quite a bit of fun, and in this volume (as in The Confusion) that translates into an engrossing experience for the reader. Anyone who has managed to complete Quicksilver should find the remainder of the trilogy worth reading. Despite its rocky start, Stephenson has produced a trilogy of towering proportions.
