We
The exhilarating dystopian novel that inspired George Orwell's 1984 and foreshadowed the worst excesses of Soviet Russia, featuring a foreword by the National Book Award-winning New Yorker journalist Masha Gessen
Yevgeny Zamyatin's We is a powerfully inventive vision that has influenced writers from George Orwell to Ayn Rand. In a glass-enclosed city of absolute straight lines, ruled over by the all-powerful 'Benefactor', the citizens of the totalitarian society of OneState live out lives devoid of passion and creativity - until D-503, a mathematician who dreams in numbers, makes a discovery: he has an individual soul. Set in the twenty-sixth century AD, We is the classic dystopian novel and was the forerunner of works such as George Orwell's 1984 and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. It was suppressed for many years in Russia and remains a resounding cry for individual freedom, yet is also a powerful, exciting and vivid work of science fiction. Clarence Brown's brilliant translation is based on the corrected text of the novel, first published in Russia in 1988 after more than sixty years' suppression.
Yevgeny Zamyatin's We is a powerfully inventive vision that has influenced writers from George Orwell to Ayn Rand. In a glass-enclosed city of absolute straight lines, ruled over by the all-powerful 'Benefactor', the citizens of the totalitarian society of OneState live out lives devoid of passion and creativity - until D-503, a mathematician who dreams in numbers, makes a discovery: he has an individual soul. Set in the twenty-sixth century AD, We is the classic dystopian novel and was the forerunner of works such as George Orwell's 1984 and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. It was suppressed for many years in Russia and remains a resounding cry for individual freedom, yet is also a powerful, exciting and vivid work of science fiction. Clarence Brown's brilliant translation is based on the corrected text of the novel, first published in Russia in 1988 after more than sixty years' suppression.
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Community Reviews
Trying to escape the horror show reality we're living in...by reading a classic novel set in a dystopian world ruled by fascists! Great fun. ;-) George Orwell was reportedly heavily influenced by this book, written in 1924, and it shows.
Zamyatin may have cleared way for other Dystopian novels, such as Brave New World and 1984... but criticizing Communism was not his only target; he was an equal opportunity satirist, taking aim at the "backwardness" of the provincial and the religious.
The concept of "We" is based on the idea that "..if man's freedom is nil, he commits no crimes."
Zamyatin takes this to an imaginative, and visually expressive conclusion.
The concept of "We" is based on the idea that "..if man's freedom is nil, he commits no crimes."
Zamyatin takes this to an imaginative, and visually expressive conclusion.
I liked the premise, but I found the book hard to get through, given the fragmented sentences, unfinished thoughts, and general stream of consciousness style that it was written in, especially as the narrator becomes more confused and disjointed. I couldn't really connect with any of the characters or the story because it was kind of hard to figure out what was actually going on. I did like the story and the ending however, despite the writing style, so I still gave this book 3 stars.
So many science fiction writers were inspired by this novel- written in 1920s- though few of them improved upon it. For example, in my opinion, We is superior to Brave New World, written in the 1930s. I am not usually a fan of novels that are allegories though some, like 1984, are standouts for me. This isn't a perfect novel for me but it does so many creative and literary things that it was worth the time I spent with it.
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