"We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin, 1923

"We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin, 1923

"And I hope we win. More than that; I am certain we shall
win. For Reason must prevail."

It's been a couple of years since hearing of this book's existence and I finally managed to get a copy online in PDF format. Here is the link: https://ilfyn.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/yevgeny-zamyatin-we.pdf

We was written about 1923 and is a science-fiction fantasy dealing with the 26th century A.D. The book was originally refused publication in Russia for the grounds that it was ideologically undesirable or incompatible with Russia's political landscape at the time. Eventually, a manuscript of the book made it out of Russia and translated versions began to appear in various languages.

One of the first noticeable things about this book is that Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World must have been influenced by this book; both books deal with the rebellion of the primitive human spirit against a rationalized, mechanized, painless world, etc.

The other noticeable item about this book it shares the same plot of George Orwell's novel 1984. It should be no surprise being that Orwell review We for Tribune in 1946; three years before he published Nineteen Eighty-Four. In his review, he called Zamyatin's book an influence on Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, though Huxley always denied anything of the sort. "It is in effect a study of the Machine," Orwell wrote of We, "the genie that man has thoughtlessly let out of its bottle and cannot put back again. This is a book to look out for when an English version appears." He seems to have taken his own advice.

This was tough book to get into.  The book was not written with expert control in an accessible style about a world recognizably our own so I found myself going over some sections several times over for fear of missing something.

Perhaps We deserves more recognition than it has had given the idea that it is the granddaddy of all science-fiction dystopian novels.



★★☆☆☆ (2 out of 5 stars) - It was ok.



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The summary as found on
https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/We

We takes place in the far-future One State, a totalitarian society one thousand years after a cataclysm which killed the majority of the world's population. It is told from the point of view of D-503, an engineer and mathematician. Through his journal, initially undertaken in response to the State order to create writings glorifying their society, we learn about the totalitarian One State and the secret rebellion plotting to take it down.

Kustodiev_Zamyatin

As the Builder of the Integral, the massive spaceship intended to conquer and subjugate alien societies under the totalitarian and mathematically perfect rule of the One State, D-503 is an esteemed member of the One State. He is initially completely subsumed in the ideology of the One State, and thrills in the uniformity and emotionless repetition of the life in the Metropolis. His only regret is that his hairy, atavistic arms remind him of humanity's more primitive roots. In the One State, such physical characteristics appear to be one of the few remaining ties to the life of the people who lived before the One State, the "Ancients." The One State's citizens are shielded from nature inside the Green Wall and privacy - except for during State-sanctioned "sex visits" - is a thing of the past. D-503's regular companions include his lover O-90, who laments being too short to be allowed children, and his friend R-13, a State poet and also O-90's lover.

D-503's blissfully regulated world is shaken when he meets I-330, a femme fatale whom he finds simultaneously repulsive and irresistible. I-330's influence over D-503's life increases as she takes him to the Ancient House, gradually reveals her use of illicit substances such as alcohol and tobacco, and tells D-503 that she can have a corrupt doctor excuse him from work. D-503 is horrified, but finds himself incapable of turning I-330 over to the authorities.

Yevgeny Zamyatin

D-503 becomes increasingly smitten and begins to have dreams at night, a crime in the One State. Upon visiting a doctor, he is told that his affliction is that he has developed a "soul." I-330 ultimately reveals the existence of human beings living beyond the Green Wall and of the MEPHI, an underground resistance movement whose aim is to destroy the Green Wall and the totalitarian One State government. D-503 increasingly questions the mathematical perfection and soullessness of the One State. After he fulfills O-90's request for an illegal pregnancy, he has I-330 smuggle her beyond the wall.

The rebels spark a revolution, destroying parts of the Green Wall and allowing birds to re-enter the
city. D-503 is arrested and his imagination removed using x-rays, after which he tells the Benefactor and Guardianship Agency all that he knows about MEPHI. I-330 is brought before D-503 and the Benefactor and tortured for information; she gives none, which perplexes D-503. The novel ends with D-503 saying that all MEPHI agents in captivity will be executed. The battle for the city goes on, but D-503 is confident that the One State will win, "Because reason should win" (Zamyatin 203).