Evgenii Zamiatin worked as an engineer while pursuing his literary career; in the eyes of his contemporaries, this was one relevant trait of his image. His masterpiece, the novel “We”, however, depicts a deeply pessimistic picture of an over-rational future society. This depiction contains, moreover, a number of attributes that can be traced back to Zamiatin's satirical picture of England in his novella “The Islanders”. Was this meant to be a warning against the dangers of technology, or against the developments of the bolshevik westernizing ideology? Was this engineer an enemy of rational thinking? The language of mathematics plays a relevant role in the novel's figural system; maybe, part of this mathematical discourse can be taken at face value. In his essays, Zamiatin repeatedly pointed as Lobachevskii and Einstein as symbols of the new way of seen the world, which demands a new kind of literary realism. His critique of rationalism, consequently, can be interpreted as the critique of an obsolete, over-simplified rationalism.

Colombo, D. (2012). L'ingegner Zamjatin e la rivolta della fantasia. In E. Martinelli (a cura di), Oltre il regolo. Da Dostoevskij a Gadda: percorsi umani e intellettuali di ingegneri-artisti (pp. 119-137). Soveria Mannelli : Rubbettino.

L'ingegner Zamjatin e la rivolta della fantasia

COLOMBO, Duccio
2012-01-01

Abstract

Evgenii Zamiatin worked as an engineer while pursuing his literary career; in the eyes of his contemporaries, this was one relevant trait of his image. His masterpiece, the novel “We”, however, depicts a deeply pessimistic picture of an over-rational future society. This depiction contains, moreover, a number of attributes that can be traced back to Zamiatin's satirical picture of England in his novella “The Islanders”. Was this meant to be a warning against the dangers of technology, or against the developments of the bolshevik westernizing ideology? Was this engineer an enemy of rational thinking? The language of mathematics plays a relevant role in the novel's figural system; maybe, part of this mathematical discourse can be taken at face value. In his essays, Zamiatin repeatedly pointed as Lobachevskii and Einstein as symbols of the new way of seen the world, which demands a new kind of literary realism. His critique of rationalism, consequently, can be interpreted as the critique of an obsolete, over-simplified rationalism.
2012
Settore L-LIN/21 - Slavistica
Colombo, D. (2012). L'ingegner Zamjatin e la rivolta della fantasia. In E. Martinelli (a cura di), Oltre il regolo. Da Dostoevskij a Gadda: percorsi umani e intellettuali di ingegneri-artisti (pp. 119-137). Soveria Mannelli : Rubbettino.
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
Zamjatin04102017.pdf

Solo gestori archvio

Dimensione 8.31 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
8.31 MB Adobe PDF   Visualizza/Apri   Richiedi una copia

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10447/70913
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
social impact