Eighteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

A graduate of the Imperial Naval Academy and manager of the Icebreaker constructions in Britain, Yevgeny Zamyatin was a talented engineer and author of pioneering science-fiction work, We (Мы). With his natural mathematical inclination, We contains mathematical references, such as √(-1), or D-503’s respect for 18-th century mathematician Brook Taylor. But what did Zamyatin show us with his gifts about what lies beyond words – inside them? Starting with the center of the novel, D-503 and his Integral – d, the variable universally representative of the function of mathematical differentiation and the Integral (with the function of integration) being built by D-503, this is first robust allusion to calculus in the plot. When I-330 is brought into consideration, along with D-503’s irrational fear of √(-1), the irrational number i, it proves both differentiation and integration, has i present a challenge. D-503’s (differentiation) encounter with i will amount him to 0, and her presence in the integral construction makes it an unsolvable problem – each analogy becomes more representative of the evolution of the plot. Further, O-90, like Big O Notation (showing decline/increase of function) shows D-503 exponentially drifting from his ideologies and usual behavior. U, additionally, tries to simplify D-503’s life for him, forcing him into the One State’s ways, like U-substitution in calculus simplifies an expression for a reduced margin for error. Zamyatin represented a functional variable correlating with character functions and their relationships, pushing words/numbers beyond their meaning, into perspective representation of literature and social commentary.