The book is remarkable for when it was written, at least as much as for what was written in it. First, though, the 'what' is well worth the attention.
The setting is some time after a long and destructive war, within the enclave of the victors, or so they style themselves. They have created a technological heaven on earth, tamed the wind and waves to human use, and very nearly tamed the human animal. Nearly, but not quite. D-503 (the protagonist) is a driven man. First, he is driven to the most demanding feats of engineering achievement. Later, he is driven to the wildness of his passion by I-330, a woman who has manipulated the movers of that world to the edge of revolution. Other characters offer contrast; O-90, for example, is the archetypal woman: petite, soft, emotional, with an uncontrollable urge towards the crime of unauthorized motherhood.
There are many ways in which this parallels Orwell's later 1984, down to the forced conversion of the protagonist at the end. This book predates Orwell's by over 20 years, however. It also predates Huxley's "Brave New World" with which it shares much, including technologically enforced, ineffectual happiness and the idea that everyone belongs to everyone else. Although Zamyatin's characters tend towards the one-sided, the book's situation is a good deal more complex than either Orwell's or Huxley's. What, for example, is that Green Wall? And what, beyond one glimpse, would we find behind it? This also raises the idea of the "Stockholm Syndrome" when an entire society is held captive. D seems to have an overwhelming sense of duty towards the state and its Benefactor, even when confession would mean his own destruction.
Though generally good, I have reservations about aspects of the translation. Zamyatin seems to have had fair grasp of math and science, and used the square root of negative one as a metaphor. In this translation, that strange number is termed "irrational." Modern English usage would call it "imaginary" instead, and irrationality would name a different property of numbers. That peculiarity makes no narrative difference, however, and the translation holds together well in other respects.
Most interesting is that Zamyatin wrote this around 1920, after several run-ins with the early Communist government. He wrote with prescient authority about what he saw happening in his world, and this book was suppressed for many years. Although weaker in some ways than later, similar books, it carries first-hand passion as well as seniority in its genre. Anyone who reads 1984 should read this also, for the striking similarities as much as for the differences. Or just read "We" - it's worth it by itself.
//wiredweird
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giselle helene pons
WE one if the first dystopian novels of tge XXth century.
Reviewed in Italy on August 3, 2017