Brian David Boyd (born 30 July 1952) is a professor of literature known primarily as an expert on the life and works of author

Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (russian: link=no, Владимир Владимирович Набоков ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Bo ...

and on literature and evolution. He is a University Distinguished Professor in the Department of English at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Early life and education

Born in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, Boyd emigrated to New Zealand as a child with his family in 1957. In 1979 Boyd completed a PhD at the University of Toronto with a dissertation on Vladimir Nabokov's novel '' Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle'', in the context of Nabokov's epistemology, ethics, and metaphysics. That year he took up a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Auckland (on New Zealand novelist

Maurice Gee Maurice Gough Gee (born 22 August 1931) is a New Zealand novelist. He is one of New Zealand's most distinguished and prolific authors, having written over thirty novels for adults and children, and has won numerous awards both in New Zealand an ...

) before being appointed a lecturer in English there in 1980.

Work

Véra Nabokov, Nabokov's widow, in 1979 invited Boyd to catalog her husband's archives, a task he completed in 1981. That year he also began researching a critical biography of Nabokov. ''Nabokov’s'' Ada'': The Place of Consciousness'' (1985; rev. 2001) examined ''Ada'' in its own terms and in relation to Nabokov's thought and style. ''Vladimir Nabokov: The Russian Years'' (1990) and ''Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years'' (1991) won numerous awards and widespread acclaim and have been translated into seven languages. In the 1990s Boyd edited Nabokov's English-language fiction and memoirs for the

Library of America The Library of America (LOA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LOA has published over 300 volumes by authors rangi ...

(3 vols., 1996) and, with lepidopterist

Robert Michael Pyle Robert Michael Pyle (born 19 July 1947) is an American lepidopterist, writer, teacher, and founder of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. Much of his life story is told in the 2020 feature film ''The Dark Divide'', where Pyle i ...

, Nabokov's writings on butterflies (''

Nabokov's Butterflies ''Nabokov’s Butterflies'' is a book edited and annotated by Brian Boyd and Robert Michael Pyle that examines and presents Vladimir Nabokov’s passion for butterfly, butterflies in his literary presentation. The book contains a chapter by Boy ...

'', 2000). He also began a biography of philosopher

Karl Popper Sir Karl Raimund Popper (28 July 1902 – 17 September 1994) was an Austrian-British philosopher, academic and social commentator. One of the 20th century's most influential philosophers of science, Popper is known for his rejection of the cl ...

, and work on literature and evolution. Boyd's 1999 book, ''Nabokov’s'' Pale Fire'': The Magic of Artistic Discovery'', attracted attention both for the novelty of Boyd's reading of ''

Pale Fire ''Pale Fire'' is a 1962 novel by Vladimir Nabokov. The novel is presented as a 999-line poem titled "Pale Fire", written by the fictional poet John Shade, with a foreword, lengthy commentary and index written by Shade's neighbor and academic col ...

'' and for his rejecting his own influential interpretation of the notoriously elusive novel in ''Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years''. In 2009 he published ''On the Origin of Stories: Evolution, Cognition and Fiction''. Once compared in scope with

Northrop Frye Herman Northrop Frye (July 14, 1912 – January 23, 1991) was a Canadian literary critic and literary theorist, considered one of the most influential of the 20th century. Frye gained international fame with his first book, '' Fearful Symmet ...

’s ''

Anatomy of Criticism ''Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays'' (Princeton University Press, 1957) is a book by Canadian literary critic and theorist Northrop Frye that attempts to formulate an overall view of the scope, theory, principles, and techniques of literary c ...

'' (1957), ''On the Origin of Stories'' proposes that art and storytelling are

adaptations In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the p ...

and derive from

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...

. It also shows evolutionary literary criticism in practice in studies of

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

’s ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major Ancient Greek literature, ancient Greek Epic poetry, epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by moder ...

'' and

Dr. Seuss Theodor Seuss Geisel (;"Seuss"
'' Horton Hears a Who! ''Horton Hears a Who!'' is a children's book written and illustrated by Theodor Seuss Geisel under the pen name Dr. Seuss. It was published in 1954 by Random House. This book tells the story of Horton the Elephant and his adventures saving Whovil ...

''. Boyd continues to work on Nabokov, including ongoing annotations to ''Ada'' (since 1993), collected in a website

since 2004), an edition of Nabokov’s verse translations (''Verses and Versions'', 2008), of his letters to his wife (''Letters to Véra'', 2014), of his uncollected essays, reviews, and interviews (''Think, Write, Speak'', 2019) and of his unpublished lectures on Russian literature, and also especially on Shakespeare,

Jane Austen Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...

Art Spiegelman Art Spiegelman (; born Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev Spiegelman on February 15, 1948) is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel ''Maus''. His work as co-editor on the comics magazines ''Arcade (comics maga ...

, and Popper. Boyd's ''On the Origin of Stories'' helped precipitate an exhibition, ''On the Origin of Art'', at the Museum of Old and New Art (Hobart, Australia) in 2016–17, in which he was one of four co-curators, the others being Marc Changizi, Geoffrey Miller and Steven Pinker. In November 2020, Boyd was awarded the prestigious Rutherford Medal by the

Royal Society Te Apārangi The Royal Society Te Apārangi (in full, Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi) is an independent, statutory not-for-profit body in New Zealand providing funding and policy advice in the fields of sciences and the humanities. History The R ...

. It was the first year the medal's scope was widened to include the humanities.

Major works

* ''Nabokov's''

Ada Ada may refer to: Places Africa * Ada Foah, a town in Ghana * Ada (Ghana parliament constituency) * Ada, Osun, a town in Nigeria Asia * Ada, Urmia, a village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Ada, Karaman, a village in Karaman Province, Tur ...

'': The Place of Consciousness'' (1985; rev.2001) * ''Vladimir Nabokov: The Russian Years'' (1990) * ''Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years'' (1991) * ''Nabokov's''

'': The Magic of Artistic Discovery'' (1999) * '' Nabokov's Butterflies: Unpublished and Uncollected Writings.'' (2000) Edited by Brian Boyd and

* ''Verses and Versions: Three Centuries of Russian Poetry Selected and Translated by Vladimir Nabokov'' (2008) Edited by Brian Boyd and Stanislav Shvabrin * ''On the Origin of Stories: Evolution, Cognition, and Fiction'' (2009) * ''Why Lyrics Last: Evolution, Cognition and Shakespeare's Sonnets'' (2012) * ''Vladimir Nabokov, Letters to Véra'' (2014) Edited by Olga Voronina and Brian Boyd * ''On the Origins of Art '' (2016) With Marc Changizi, Geoffrey Miller and Steven Pinker

References

External links

Staff homepage''Ada'' Online
– Annotations to Nabokov's novel by Boyd.

– A somewhat controversial essay on Nabokov's novel.

– Conducted by Thomas Bolt.
"ON THE ORIGIN OF STORIES: Evolution, Cognition, and Fiction''"
Harvard University Press 2009
Verses and Versions' companion website
– Provides Russian originals in both Cyrillic and transliterations.
"Why Lyrics Last: Evolution, Cognition and Shakespeare's Sonnets"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyd, Brian 1952 births Living people 20th-century biographers Literary critics of English New Zealand biographers New Zealand literary critics Northern Ireland emigrants to New Zealand University of Auckland faculty University of Toronto alumni Works about Vladimir Nabokov