The Mind of a Mathematician: Evgenii Zamiatin's We

Abstract

Evgenii Zamiatin’s novel We has been read as a criticism of Bolshevism and an indictment of rationalism. More specifically, Zamiatin’s use of mathematics as a metaphor for rationalism has been accepted as a warning against the intrinsic nature of science and mathematics to be used as tools of oppression. This thesis argues that the true target of Zamiatin’s criticism in the novel We is the pernicious effects of entropy and dogmatism. A close reading of Zamiatin’s personal essays in the original Russian are used to elucidate Zamiatin’s message in the novel We, which rather than impugning science and mathematics as being intrinsically predisposed to use in oppression, instead celebrates the understanding of the creative force of science and mathematics. An affirmation of science and mathematics which is to be expected from a naval engineer and mathematician of Zamiatin’s caliber.