St Petersburg TV channel: A neural network creates illustrations of Vladimir Nabokov’s works
Intricate patterns, cosmic landscapes, crumpled faces, lips in the void: such images could have been painted by Vladimir Nabokov, had he been an artist.
’Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins’: illustrating Nabokov’s most scandalous work, the neural network tried its best in four paintings, depicting not only the silhouettes of the characters, but the hellish flames in which the voluptuous Humbert Humbert burned. If such a plot seems easy to depict, how do you show spherical forshmaks or gnoseological vileness?
’There is an opinion that the neural network has bad taste, whereas Nabokov had amazing taste. Of course, Nabokov portrayed things that cannot be conveyed at all’, said Andrei Astvatsaturov, Director of the Nabokov Museum. A neural network processes billions of images and, based on sophisticated algorithms, selects a visual design for what is expressed verbally. Judging by some of the works, the computer had to heat up quite a bit to digest the author’s intricate metaphors.
Apparently, the simpler the writer, the more boring the results can be.
Fedor Dviniatin, Associate Professor at St Petersburg University
’And simpler doesn’t mean worse. There are great writers who are simple and untalented writers who are simple. There are great writers who are complex and bad writers who are complex. Apparently, for such experiments a complex writer is suitable. So, there is room to express yourself,’ explained philologist Fedor Dviniatin.
Vladimir Nabokov, according to literary critics, was a fan of classical painting. He tried to draw pictures himself. However, instead of a brush, he embodied his gift with a typewriter.
’In this case, we can see a sort of light running through the whole poetics of Vladimir Nabokov, it’s very complicated, it’s very specific. However, I think that this visual range helps us, in general, to better understand Nabokov’s poetics’, said Andrei Astvatsaturov.
Experiments with Vladimir Nabokov in St Petersburg will continue. His admirers will be surprised with a new work. Artificial intelligence will generate a new story based on the writer’s texts.