Art in Doubt: Tolstoy, Nabokov, and the Problem of Other Minds PDF
Preview Art in Doubt: Tolstoy, Nabokov, and the Problem of Other Minds
Art in Doubt Northwestern University Press Studies in Russian Literature and Theory Series Editors Caryl Emerson Gary Saul Morson William Mills Todd III Andrew Wachtel Justin Weir Art in Doubt Tolstoy, Nabokov, and the Problem of Other Minds Tatyana Gershkovich northwestern university press / evanston, illinois Northwestern University Press www.nupress.northwestern.edu Copyright © 2023 by Northwestern University. Published 2023 by Northwestern University Press. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Gershkovich, Tatyana, author. Title: Art in doubt : Tolstoy, Nabokov, and the problem of other minds / Tatyana Gershkovich. Description: Evanston, Illinois : Northwestern University Press, 2023. | Series: Northwestern University Press studies in Russian literature and theory | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2022023698 | ISBN 9780810145535 (paperback) | ISBN 9780810145542 (cloth) | ISBN 9780810145559 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Tolstoy, Leo, graf, 1828– 1910— Criticism and interpretation. | Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1899– 1977— Criticism and interpretation. | Russian fiction— 19th century— History and criticism. | Russian fiction— 20th century— History and criticism. | Aesthetics in literature. | BISAC: LITERARY CRITICISM / Russian & Former Soviet Union Classification: LCC PG3415.A3 G47 2023 | DDC 891.733— dc23/eng/20220524 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022023698 For Adam, Nina, and Leo Contents Acknowledgments ix Note on Transliteration and Citation xi List of Abbreviations xiii Introduction “Some Better Brick Than the Cartesian One” 3 Chapter One Tolstoy’s Uncertain Artist 24 Chapter Two Nabokov’s Moderate Multiplication of the Self 60 Chapter Three Atrophied Aesthetic Sense 90 Chapter Four Suspicion on Trial 125 Afterword The Artful and the Artless 155 Notes 161 Bibliography 199 Index 217 Acknowledgments The conversations I had while writing this book were among its greatest joys. My deepest thanks to Justin Weir for a dialogue that began in my under- graduate days and has now stretched into its second decade. I am grateful for his brilliant example as a scholar and teacher, his steadfast support as an adviser and colleague, and most of all his willingness to linger in unhurried discussions that have shaped my views on Tolstoy, Nabokov, and much else. My profound thanks also to William Mills Todd, whose memorable course on Dostoevsky opened a world of intellectual pleasures and challenges; and to Richard Moran, who helped me develop a vocabulary for engaging more rigorously with questions about art and other minds. This project benefited from the support of many other colleagues and friends at Harvard. I am grateful to the faculty of the Harvard Slavic Department, especially Julie Buckler, Stephanie Sandler, and the late Svetlana Boym. My thanks to Daniel Green, Alex Gross, Mihaela Pacurar, Philipp Penka, Maxim Pozdorovkin, Adam Stern, and Lusia Zaitseva for being kind and incisive interlocutors. A number of colleagues had a transformative effect on this project. I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Hannah Vandegrift Eldridge, Mat- thew Handelman, Joela Jacobs, and Sunny Yudkoff, who were often my first readers, and as patient and generous as anyone could wish one’s first readers to be; to Stephen Blackwell, who read this book in toto more than once and improved it each time with his keen insights; to Dana Dragunoiu, Chloë Kitzinger, Susan Polansky, and Andreea Ritivoi for their challenging questions and advice on key chapters; to Caryl Emerson and the anonymous reader at PMLA for sharp comments that tightened my arguments; to the anonymous reviewers at Northwestern University Press, whose suggestions improved the work a great deal; and finally to my research assistant Mari- lyn Gao who helped me finalize the manuscript. I am likewise grateful to the many other scholars and colleagues who have generously offered their thoughts and advice at conferences and talks, and in email exchanges and chance conversations. My thanks to Galina Alekseeva, David Birnbaum, Nancy Condee, David Herman, Maria Khotimsky, Ilya Kliger, Olga Klimova, ix
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