Chaos and Literary ComparisonAbstract: I will show how chaos can be found in art, particularly literature, and analyze Travesty by John Hawkes to show the similarities between literature and chaos. John Hawkes describes the "artistic challenge" as conceiving the inconceivable. In agreement with this thought, Wallace Stevens states: "Imagination is the power that enables us to perceive the normal in the abnormal." It can be argued that chaos, deterministic disorder, is abnormal and inconceivable to the untrained mind; even for the person accustomed to chaos, imagination is the key to his perception of chaos. Therefore, chaos can be found not only in nature and scientific studies, but also in art, especially in literature. This claim can be most easily demonstrated through an analysis of Travesty by John Hawkes. The short novel is set in a sleek, speeding sports car. The driver, who is the narrator, refers to himself as Dad. Dad is accompanying his daughter and a poet and "friend" of the family, Henri. While driving, Dad informs them that he is aware of Henri's affair with both Daughter and Dad's wife, and that he will crash the car and all its passengers into the stone wall of a desolate farm. The purpose of this violent action is not, as one might easily conclude, to take revenge: it would simply be an advantage; its true purpose is to produce art. Dad is something of an artist and has decided that the final aesthetic is achieved by fusing the car into a new and complex whole according to his mental project: one moment the car in perfect condition, without even a scratch on the bodywork. curved surface, the impact of the next moment, pure impact. Total destruction. In... middle of paper... is difficult to understand without the aid of an active imagination. If imagination stimulates art, then art and chaos can easily intertwine. Hawkes has produced a story, a work of art in itself, that encompasses chaos, but also contains an explanation of chaos as a work of art and how the two relate. Often people only see the end product of both chaos and art; it is possible and easy to forget the process and plan behind them. Works Cited Conte, Joseph M. "Design and Debris": John Hawkes's Travesty, Chaos Theory, and the Swerve. Gleick, James. Chaos: creating a new science. New York: Viking, 1987. Hawkes, John. Disguise. New York: New Directions, 1976. Hayles, N. Katherine. Chaos Bound: Orderly Disorder in Contemporary Literature and Science. Ithica: Cornell UP, 1990.Stevens, Wallace. The collected poems. New York: Knopf, 1954.