226 pages
English language
Published March 17, 1993
We (Russian: Мы, romanized: My) is a dystopian novel by Russian writer Yevgeny Zamyatin, written 1920–1921. It was first published as an English translation by Gregory Zilboorg in 1924 by E. P. Dutton in New York, with the original Russian text first published in 1952. The novel describes a world of harmony and conformity within a united totalitarian state. It influenced the emergence of dystopia as a literary genre. George Orwell claimed that Aldous Huxley's 1931 Brave New World must be partly derived from We, but Huxley denied this.
It's fun to know that this was basically one of the prototypes of the early dystopian (anti-utopian) novel, but it's such a good story that I wonder why it's not one of the more well-known 'classics' of the type.
And it feels like the kind of internal messiness that a person would have trying to survive in such an authoritarian space, with all the conflicting thoughts that accompany it.
Historical dystopian science fiction from one of the first Soviet dissidents, this book inspired 1984 and many others. Zamyatin's rocket is ahead of its time - partially the product of the authors background as a naval engineer.
We learn the story through the main character's diary entries. He has an ordered mind, thrown akilter by unexpected passion, and this comes through in the text. Unfortunately, while his character changes, the remaining characters are flat and unbending. Religion plays a larger element here than in most dystopian fiction, and this is well written also.
Otherwise the writing is clunky, and I'm not sure if that is the translation. I thought Orwell did a better job portraying his dystopian state, and his ending was far more tragic. Interestingly, Orwell claimed in a book review of Brave New World that Huxley had lifted many elements from this book, and then 17 years later …
Historical dystopian science fiction from one of the first Soviet dissidents, this book inspired 1984 and many others. Zamyatin's rocket is ahead of its time - partially the product of the authors background as a naval engineer.
We learn the story through the main character's diary entries. He has an ordered mind, thrown akilter by unexpected passion, and this comes through in the text. Unfortunately, while his character changes, the remaining characters are flat and unbending. Religion plays a larger element here than in most dystopian fiction, and this is well written also.
Otherwise the writing is clunky, and I'm not sure if that is the translation. I thought Orwell did a better job portraying his dystopian state, and his ending was far more tragic. Interestingly, Orwell claimed in a book review of Brave New World that Huxley had lifted many elements from this book, and then 17 years later Orwell used even more of it to write 1984.
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