Rating: Summary: NOT REALLY THE OPENING LINE Review: A great novel, "WE", as the others below observe, is a clear influence on Huxley and Orwell. I can't add to their editorial in a meaningful way, but suggest you add the following to your collection of utopian/anti-utopian (same thing) literature: "Huckleberry Finn", by Mark Twain, and, "Utopia", by ST Thomas More. There are many, many others, but these five comprise a good starting point. LOVE! Starla
Rating: Summary: A BETTER DYSTOPIAN ENTRY... Review: than Huxley's BRAVE NEW WORLD. Orwell was clearly influenced by this saga of Marxism aspace. M-100 is a lowly mathematician on board "Friendship" (read as Conqueror), a spaceship that "visits" other planets to obstensibly spread peace and good will...and take over. Forced to confront his self, he wonders, "Who am I? What am I like?". Searing novel hints at autobiography. Much better than BRAVE NEW WORLD, precogniscient of 1984, but, strangely enough, lacking any reference to Twain or More. Fascinatingly original. Alive. Quick.
Rating: Summary: Need to Read Review: There are three books that everyone should read somewhere along the line: "Brave New World", "1984" and "We". The first two are the better known of the works, but to fully understand them you must see where they are coming from. "We" is the father of both -- the other two works explore themes only touched upon in "We", but they do not make the ideas in "We" obsolete. Separately each of these works is wonderfully insightful, yet somehow incomplete... On a side note, if you notice the discussion about 2*2=4 in both "We" and "1984", don't huff and puff that Orwell stole his ideas from Zamyatin, because Zamyatin first read many of 'his' ideas in Dostoevsky's "Notes From the Underground".
Rating: Summary: Part of the 3 Anti-Utopias Review: Should be read with Orwell's "1984" & Huxley's "Brave New World". The three make up a anti-utopian trilogy. I find "1984" to be better but "We" is good and should be added to your list if you liked the other two.
Rating: Summary: An interesting pre-Orwell dystopia Review: It is said that George Orwell lifted some material for "1984" from this book, and one can truly see the parallels. "We" is a masterpiece; though not always as involving as "1984", it is well constructed and powerful. A fairly quick read, "We" will keep you interested and leave you with an interesting literary history lesson.
Rating: Summary: Entropy Review: Zamyatin's "We" is a complex and intricate novel. The nuances are too many to discuss and I have not sorted them out for myself. There are a few points which I believe are key to appreciating the novel. First I would recommend reading "The Cave" by Zamyatin. I believe that "The Cave" gives an insight into Zamyatin's philisophical and scienctific beliefs and there intergration. One of the most important ideas in Zamyatin's "WE" is the idea of Entropy. The law of Entropy is (I believe)the second law of thermodynamics. This law basically says the a given system (molecules, society ect.) tends to move to a state of rest, i.e., low energy. The idividual who constantly denies the status quo and looks beyond the horizon adds energy to the system, i.e., creativity. But there is no rest, there must be a constant state of revolution because systems move towards order a low energy and death. "WE" is a testimony to th! e importance and need of free thought. Some readers may see "WE" as an anti-Soviet communist documment which it well may be, but the ideas go beyond a mear political protest. Zamyatin tries to point out the constant striving of humankind. I would also like suggest a reading of the "Undergroung Man" by Feodor Dostoevsky.
Rating: Summary: Interesting negative Utopia Review: 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.
Rating: Summary: So good I learned Russian for it Review: Yup, that's right. Some learn French to read the original Baudelaire; I'm a smidge weird, so that's what I did. Previous reviewers have stated that this book condemns Stalinism or Leninism or totalitarianism (the list goes on and on and on), and while they are right in their assessments, they neglect to mention that it really does a number on 1. suburbian mass consciousness 2. the classic emotionless stereotype and 3. the idea that medicine can solve all our troubles. Not only would I highly recommend it in English, if you speak Russian (or have a passing interest in doing so), I'd recommend it there too.
Rating: Summary: The precursor to Dystopia Review: Though not the first dystopian novel (Jack London"s "The Iron Heel" dates from the 1900's), nor the most famous (ever hear of "1984"), it is indeed the most influential. It is the father to all literature which bases itself on a world worse than the one we live in today, based on the trends we are currently experiencing. For Zamyatin in 1924, that meant the rise of Stalin and the concurrent decline in liberty. Zamyatin wrote in obscurity the same things Orwell would become famous for 25 years later when he was critiquing the post-Hitler Europe that still smoldered from half a century of war. Zamyatin's take was that society was hopelessly becoming too logical, and that all work was done to uphold the One State. Now, the parallels to propoganda and totalitarianism in Soviet Russia are obvious. But it goes to the extent that logic and order defined unquestioned beauty. Mathematics becomes poetry. Art is superfluous if it doesn't glorify logic as its god. But Zamyatin's novel has a soul. Below the surface pamphleteering, there is a love story. If there is a thesis statement, it's that love prevails, even over deified logic. The hero, the builder of the very vehicle designed to take the One State's logic to other worlds, fails himself in the most human of ways--he falls in love. Now, the hero has a girlfriend so to speak, but its within the rules of society. He meets another woman he initially hates because of her carefree attitude and mannerisms, yet falls for her for the same reasons. Hence, he has internal conflict, and how better to portray what drama goes on in one's head than through a journal? Hence, the style of the book. At the very least, it's interesting to see how dystopian literature develops because of "We". It's interesting how you can see Huxley develop his orgy-porgies and how Orwell came up with brainwashing brutality by reading this novel. The final sentence sums up the futility of trying to rage against the machine--"Be! cause Reason Nust Prevail." Orwell wrote "He loved Big Brother". Same effect.
Rating: Summary: Robespierre Reborn in Lenin Review: Zamytin was a Bolshevik who knew something had gone terribly wrong with the dream of a socialist utopia born of ideology. Though others find humor in it, this epic proves a stark reminder of the corruption of a state gone mad with technology, making pretentious claims that it has 'the people's best interest at heart'. So circumstanced, Zamyatin endows us with the didactic framework of a literary legacy, strong drink for the elitist hagiographers of Lenin and Trotsky. In doing so, he elliptically reveals the blunders of history's other utopian strategies as well. As Shakespeare said in Measure for Measure, it is excellent to wield a giant's strength, by tyrannous to us it as a giant.
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