We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, Mirra Ginsburg Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $4.09 You Save: $3.90 (49%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.90 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of We
Book Review: I am he as you are he as you are me
Summary: 5 Stars
and we are all together.
These lyrics by the Beatles provide some flavor of the atmosphere of the futuristic society found in Yevgeny Zamyatin's dystopian classic "WE". Written in the fledgling Soviet Union in 1920 "WE" had a direct influence n Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and Ayn Rand's Anthem. In fact, Rand's Anthem tracks "WE" so closely both as to plot and character development that one cannot help but think that Zamyatin's influence on Rand was significant, to say the least.
Zamyatin was born in 1884 and studied naval engineering as a young man. Like many young Russian intellectuals Zamyatin was something of a revolutionary. He was arrested and exiled more than once by the Tsar's secret police for revolutionary activities. During the First World War Zamyatin, by now a naval enginner was sent to England were he supervised the construction of icebreakers for the Russian navy. He returned to Russia upon the outbreak of the October 1917 revolution. Zamyatin turned to writing full time after the revolution. Although a Bolshevik, Zamyatin chafed at the increasing censorship the Bolshevik's imposed on artists and writers. In fact, WE was the first novel to be banned by the newly formed literary censorship board, GLAVLIT. WE was not officially published in Russia or the USSR until 1988. Not able to earn a living as a writer in the USSR, Zamyatin applied for an exit visa. Zamyatin was granted an exit visa and he emigrated to Paris, were he died a sick and poverty stricken man in 1937.
WE takes place in the twenty-sixth century a time in which a totalitarian regime has created an extremely regimented society where individual expression simply does not exist. All remnants of individuality have been stripped from its inhabitants including their names. Their names have been replaced with an alpha-numeric system. People are not coupled. Rather, each individual is assigned three friends with whom they can have intimate relations on a rigid schedule established by the state. Those scheduled assignations are the only times the shades in a citizen's glass houses can be closed. Apart from those hourly intervals everyone's life is monitored by the state. As in Orwell's 1984 language has been turned on its head. Freedom means unhappiness and conformity and the submission of individual will to the state means happiness.
D-503 is a mathematician. He is busily engaged working on the construction of a spaceship, the Integral, which will carry the wonderful benefits of "The One State" to those living on distant planets. He keeps a diary to provide a record of his feelings in the weeks before the launch. But into his perfectly well-structured life walks I-330. She evokes in D-503 feelings which he has long suppressed or never knew he had. He falls in love, can't sleep, and starts breaking rules and generally acting like most of us do today. But I-330 is a heretic, an individual who smokes, drinks, loves carnal knowledge and seeks nothing more but the dissolution of the One State. The next thing you know D-503 finds himself on the side of revolution. As the book reaches it climactic moments questions as to the failure or success of the revolution are answered.
WE was a fascinating book to read. Some of the language is a bit dated and Zamyatin's 1921 idea of what the future might look like has been outstripped by the reality of 20th-century developments. However, the underlying themes of conformity v. freedom and "the state" v the individual still have great contemporary significance that keeps WE as fresh as it was when originally written.
Some have said that WE represented Zamyatin's attack on the oppression of the Soviet system. I would have to disagree. The book was written in 1920 well before the Soviet regime consolidated enough power to be considered a totalitarian society. Further, even though WE contains some reference to the damage caused by regimes such as the fledgling USSR it also contains reference (looking back from the 26th-century) to societal ills caused by both capitalism and organized religion. As such, Zamyatin believed in equal opportunity when it came to instruments of oppression.
At the end of the day it seems that what Zamyatin valued most in society were those people will to play the role of heretic. It certainly was a trait he valued in artists. As he noted in an essay written in 1919:
True literature can exist only where it is created, not by diligent and trustworthy functionaries, but by madmen, hermits, heretics, dreamers, rebels, and skeptics.
Zamyatin was a heretic, a dreamer, and a rebel. WE is a worthy monument to a person who believed that the individual was more important than the state without regard to whether that state had `all life's answers'. WE should be enjoyed by anyone who has read and liked H.G. Wells (who influenced Zamyatin), Huxly, or Orwell. This is a book worth reading.
Book Review: If you liked 1984 and Brave New World,
Summary: 5 Stars
Then you MUST get this book. We is the first and best book out of the "Dystopian Trilogy" of books, and, not surprisingly, the most penetratingly honest and hopeful of the three works. As is common with Russian authors, Zamyatin coupled a vision of a bleak future with a piercing ray of hope in the end. D-503's internal struggles and those with his other "numbers" as he is facing these new feelings brought about by I-330's attentions also add a great deal of soul which is missing from the later works by Orwell and Huxley. This is definitely a book that is well worth anyone's time, and I particularly recommend it to anyone interested in dystopian literature and the writings of the Soviet dissidents, or anyone who has an interst in great literature.Book Review: Interesting negative Utopia
Summary: 4 Stars
This book was perhaps as intriguing as 1984, but the format was a little odd for me. It is written as the diary entries (intended as a story of the main character's life for his ancestors) of a mathematician in an age where everyone belongs to everyone else, nothing is private.Very fascinating, right up to the last sentence. A must-read for the prophetic-scifi reader.
Book Review: It's alright
Summary: 2 Stars
We've all read 1984, we've all seen the movie, and we've all used the term, "Big Brother" in our modern day society; and it's pretty clear that all of us have a good understanding of what a dystopia is. But I really wished I didn't because Zamyatin's We would've been a great read. However, it's got some interesting concepts like the, "Integral" a giant ship the builders make so their society can use it to explore new worlds and colonize distant lands; and everything in their society is constructed from glass so everyone sees all with the exception of sexual intercourse which is conducted behind a curtain. The story is well written, although it becomes a little frustrating when you're reading d-503's new found thoughts and sensations because his mind goes all over the place. The story is well structured, but towards the end the story becomes all too familiar with fans who take interests in dystopian sci-fi.
But that's the probelm! Because of Orwell's '84, movies like Brazil and Kafka, and other dystopian novels this book becomes predictable and trite! The only thing that kept me hooked was the technology and mathematics they used in the book-other than that it really didn't grab me.
It's not like this book is bad, don't get me wrong, I just wished I read We first. But go pick up the book if you're just getting into this genre and you'll find yourself having a great time.
Book Review: Join D-503 on his journey into "illness"
Summary: 5 Stars
Other reviewers have had plenty to say about the significance of this book to political and literary history. As an English teacher who regularly teaches an elective in Dystopian Literature, I can't help but agree with their comments.However, something has been lost in many of the reviews that I've read here. Much of our difficulty in reading and understanding We arises from Zamyatin's ability to effectively adopt his main character's voice and concerns. It is a product of his literary success, not of any clumsiness or mistakes.
We is written in an eccentric voice: the voice of a mathematician and scientist of the twenty-sixth century, D-503, who is gradually confronted with the irrationality of his own self. As the book opens, he is self-assured and composed. He dazzles us with his mathematical metaphors for the beauty of OneState and his praise for its hyperrational society.
As the book progresses, however, D-503 becomes gradually more confused, conflicted, and, in his own words, "ill." He begins to enjoy irrational things (like "ancient" music), to want irrational things (like sex outside of the prescribed Sex Days), and to avoid rational behaviors (like turning in I-330 when he realizes what she is up to).
Since We is written in the first person, it only makes sense that as D-503 struggles to understand what is happening to him, we too should struggle. The simple, mathematical prose with which D-503 opens the book gives way to an increasingly confused jumble of thoughts. Zamyatin intentionally includes us in D-503's psychological journey. Not until the last chapter, when D-503's conflict is resolved, is clarity of voice reestablished.
Following someone's deepest internal struggles, by examining both what is said and what is left unsaid, is one of our most challenging reading experiences. That difficulty, however, doesn't betray Zamyatin's weakness as an author but rather his sensitivity to the character he created.
As a work of literature, We doesn't need to be defended. For those who are willing to invest the time, D-503 is anything but flat. He comes alive as a character caught between a society he admires and his own irrational urges. Whether you have read 1984, Brave New World, or any other dystopias, We is well worth your reading and rereading.