We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
We
(Мы)
Yevgeny Zamyatin
(translated by Clarence Brown)
225 p.
Penguin Classics, 1993.
(Published in Russian 1988, in an English translation 1924.)
Back cover blurb:
Set in the twenty-sixth century A.D., Zamyatin’s masterpiece describes life in the regimented totalitarian society of OneState, ruled over by the all-powerful “Benefactor.” The inspiration for George Orwell’s 1984, We is the archetype of the modern dystopia, or anti-Utopia: a great prose poem detailing the fate that might befall us all if we surrender our individual selves to some collective dream of technology and fail in the vigilance that is the price of freedom.
I have recently been listening a lot to the Pet Shop Boys. On their latest album, Fundamental, there is one song which is called “Integral”. Apart from being an amazing song (there’s a terrific live version of the song here, if you are interested), it seems to be based around the novel We. Although I had vague thoughts of reading We before hearing “Integral”, as it was one of the first dystopian novels, I wasn’t determined until after I had heard the song. (All right, soon after hearing the song I went to England, where there was actually copies of We available.) When I started reading it, I found at once it was an extremely good book, not only spawning a really good song. I found much more realistic than 1984, which is the only other dystopian novel I have actually read. Reasons for this greater belief in the story was due to that it was set in the distant future, instead of the near future, as well as the narrator in We is also the main character, D-503, which leads to a greater belief in what is being said (I think, at least).
One thing I adored with this novel was all the glass. Everything was made of glass. Chairs, tables, buildings, and even the spaceship which is built throughout the novel, Integral, is made of glass. All this glass is not really plausible, but it paints such a beautiful picture. I could believe in this world, even though it isn’t all that believable.
Another thing I really liked (I can’t say adore, because that gives all the wrong impressions) was the fact that people was having sex all. the. time. And it was believable sex. It was all justified. So to speak. I found it, well, sweet that D-503 takes pains to mention that the accepted way of having sex was man with woman. There’s a lot of sex, as I already said. It’s surprisingly kinky, in a very non-kinky way. Every time Zamyatin would write “breasts”, he writes instead “…”. There is also a lot of D-503 clinging to the knees of the woman he is in love with. It is awfully exciting.
I also adored the ending. I always thought that the end of 1984 was a bit of a let-down, because there was never any real show-down, so to speak, but having read We now, I can understand why Orwell finished his novel as he did, as it is quite similar to the end of We, stylistically seen, even though I think I prefer the way Zamyatin writes it. It is directly to the point, and only two pages completely wraps up the story. Just like that. It is immaculate.
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November 2nd, 2008
Filed under Classics, English, Fiction, Russian Reading Challenge, Science fiction
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