“A Merging of the Precision of Poetry and the Intuition of Science”: Towards a Computational (Re-)Reading of Vladimir Nabokov’s Early Prose

Abstract

This dissertation examines computational algorithms as tools through which to facilitate additional re-readings of Vladimir Nabokov’s Mary [Mashen'ka] (1926), Glory [Podvig] (1932), and Invitation to a Beheading [Priglashenie na kazn'] (1936). Nabokov’s lecture “Good Readers and Good Writers” informs the dissertation’s discussion of Nabokov’s aesthetics, as well as the potential role of the computer as a (re-)reader of Nabokov’s prose. The chapters of the dissertation focus on particular themes in Nabokov’s oeuvre: color imagery, dual worlds, and art creation. Luke Parker’s work on the role of cinema in Nabokov’s imagery, as well as Gerard de Vries and D. Barton Johnson’s investigation of visual art, informs the discussion of cinematic and pictorial chiaroscuro in Mary. Yuri Leving’s study of the role of the train in Nabokov’s worlds illuminates the function of train travel as a form of adventure in Glory. Finally, Siggy Frank’s research on theatre in Nabokov’s prose frames the analysis of the performative prison staff in Invitation to a Beheading. The dissertation is interdisciplinary in method and scope, utilizing machine learning techniques and literary theory to analyze the patterns in Nabokov’s texts. Through its utilization of computational methods, the dissertation also investigates methodological trends within the digital humanities, drawing upon Ilya Kliger’s critique of the term “formalism” to describe contemporary machine learning projects, as well as Nan Z. Da’s criticism of standard practices in computational literary studies (CLS).