In the One State of the great Benefactor, there are no individuals, only numbers. Life is an ongoing process of mathematical precision, a perfectly balanced equation. Primitive passions and instincts have been subdued. Even nature has been defeated, banished behind the Green Wall. But one frontier remains: outer space. Now, with the creation of the spaceship Integral, that frontier -- and whatever alien species are to be found there -- will be subjugated to the beneficent yoke of reason. One number, D-503, chief architect of the Integral, decides to record his thoughts in the final days before the launch for the benefit of less advanced societies. But a chance meeting with the beautiful 1-330 results in an unexpected discovery that threatens everything D-503 believes about himself and the One State. The discovery -- or rediscovery -- of inner space ... and that disease the ancients called the soul. A page-turning …
In the One State of the great Benefactor, there are no individuals, only numbers. Life is an ongoing process of mathematical precision, a perfectly balanced equation. Primitive passions and instincts have been subdued. Even nature has been defeated, banished behind the Green Wall. But one frontier remains: outer space. Now, with the creation of the spaceship Integral, that frontier -- and whatever alien species are to be found there -- will be subjugated to the beneficent yoke of reason. One number, D-503, chief architect of the Integral, decides to record his thoughts in the final days before the launch for the benefit of less advanced societies. But a chance meeting with the beautiful 1-330 results in an unexpected discovery that threatens everything D-503 believes about himself and the One State. The discovery -- or rediscovery -- of inner space ... and that disease the ancients called the soul. A page-turning SF adventure, a masterpiece of wit and black humor that accurately predicted the horrors of Stalinism, We is the classic dystopian novel. Its message of hope and warning is as timely [today] ... as it was at the beginning [of the twentieth century].
I'm sorry, perhaps the original Russian is much better, but I just couldn't finish this. I kept not understanding what was going on. The writing was just too abstract for me. I've read a summary of the plot and it seems an interesting book, if you can understand what is going on.
I'm sorry, perhaps the original Russian is much better, but I just couldn't finish this.
I kept not understanding what was going on. The writing was just too abstract for me.
I've read a summary of the plot and it seems an interesting book, if you can understand what is going on.
The forefather of dystopian fiction, the Russian We (confusingly called My in its original language) starts of in a utopian society. Someone in the past has discovered the mathematical equations for happiness and the city is run on a strict schedule. Your name is a number. You eat at the same time as everyone else, go to work at the same time, and sleep at the same time. And repeat each day.
The walls are made of glass, there is no need for privacy and secretes when everyone lives by the same rules. Yet they can’t quite beat every primitive instinct from man, they have curtains which they can draw at a prescribed time, to partake in pastimes that may not be wholly approved of. Or time when they can have sex with whoever they have a pink slip agreement with. Love no longer exists and sex is a formal …
The forefather of dystopian fiction, the Russian We (confusingly called My in its original language) starts of in a utopian society. Someone in the past has discovered the mathematical equations for happiness and the city is run on a strict schedule. Your name is a number. You eat at the same time as everyone else, go to work at the same time, and sleep at the same time. And repeat each day.
The walls are made of glass, there is no need for privacy and secretes when everyone lives by the same rules. Yet they can’t quite beat every primitive instinct from man, they have curtains which they can draw at a prescribed time, to partake in pastimes that may not be wholly approved of. Or time when they can have sex with whoever they have a pink slip agreement with. Love no longer exists and sex is a formal arrangement.
Or that’s what everyone believes. Of course, we know the kind of thing that happens, D503 meets a strange women. He intends to report her for irregular behaviour, but events get in the way and he misses the deadline. His thoughts start to become erratic, he reports himself as ill, but all the time being drawn into a plot to change the equilibrium.
I can see perhaps why Nineteen Eighty-Four became the better known book. I enjoyed reading We for its influence of dystopian fiction today, but sometimes D503’s narrative is a little hard to follow. He becomes delirious in him writings, as he starts to lose grip on his carefully calculated reality.
We was banned in the Soviet Union for its criticism of communism and Yevgeny Zamyatin was arrested and exiled. Its legacy can be seen in pretty much every dystopian novel written today, from enclosed cities to regulation of relationships, from surveillance to designated roles within society. And, of course, the idea that the government controls your every movement.
