{"product_id":"9780814252253","title":"The Quill and the Scalpel: Nabokov's Art and the Worlds of Science","description":"\u003cp\u003eMost famous as a literary artist, Vladimir Nabokov was also a professional biologist and a lifelong student of science. By exploring the refractions of physics, psychology, and biology within his art and thought, \u003ci\u003eThe Quill and the Scalpel: Nabokov's Art and the Worlds of Science,by Stephen H. Blackwell, demonstrates how aesthetic sensibilities contributed to Nabokov's scientific work, and how his scientific passions shape, inform, and permeate his fictions.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNabokov's attention to holistic study and inductive empirical work gradually reinforced his underlying suspicion of mechanistic explanations of nature. He perceived chilling parallels between the overconfidence of scientific progress and the dogmatic certainty of the Soviet regime. His scientific work and his artistic transfigurations of science underscore the limitations of human knowledge as a defining element of life. In provocative novels like \u003ci\u003eLolita,\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003ePale Fire,The Gift,Ada,\u003c\/i\u003e and others, Nabokov advances a surprisingly modest epistemology, urging skepticism toward all portrayals of nature, artistic \u003ci\u003eand\u003c\/i\u003e scientific. Simultaneously, he challenges his readers to recognize in the arts a vital branch of human discovery, one that both complements and informs traditional scientific research.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Univ of Chicago behalf of Ohio State UP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47030679961840,"sku":"9780814252253","price":27.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780814252253_p0.jpg?v=1763739221","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780814252253","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}