We - Yevgeny Zamyatin & Clarence Brown

We

By Yevgeny Zamyatin & Clarence Brown

  • Release Date: 1959-10-15
  • Genre: Classics
Score: 4
4
From 39 Ratings

Description

The exhilarating dystopian novel that inspired George Orwell's 1984 and foreshadowed the worst excesses of Soviet Russia

Yevgeny Zamyatin's We is a powerfully inventive vision that has influenced writers from George Orwell to Ayn Rand. In a glass-enclosed city of absolute straight lines, ruled over by the all-powerful 'Benefactor', the citizens of the totalitarian society of OneState live out lives devoid of passion and creativity - until D-503, a mathematician who dreams in numbers, makes a discovery: he has an individual soul. Set in the twenty-sixth century AD, We is the classic dystopian novel and was the forerunner of works such as George Orwell's 1984 and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. It was suppressed for many years in Russia and remains a resounding cry for individual freedom, yet is also a powerful, exciting and vivid work of science fiction. Clarence Brown's brilliant translation is based on the corrected text of the novel, first published in Russia in 1988 after more than sixty years' suppression.

Reviews

  • Fix your errors Penguin!

    1
    By ErinOGreen
    Frequently the capital letter "I" is printed as "1". It's very annoying to have I-330 printed as 1-330. The same goes for capital "O" and number "0", turning O-90 into 0-90. It really spoiled my reading of the novel because it's just such a stupid mistake on the editor's/publisher's part. Do you job Penguin.
  • Breve new world...

    4
    By Luizdarocha
    Brave New World has copied this book entirely, all the original ideas come from is book, but I have to say that BNW is a more pleasant reading, perhaps a more developed version. Both are worse than 1984, that according to Orwell himself, is a response to "We."
  • Capitalist Greed!

    1
    By Shepard13
    $12.99 for a 90 year old book? Are you serious? This is nothing but greed on my opinion.
  • The inspiration for 1984

    5
    By Kyle.Samuel.Wilson
    An author that is never given credit for starting the dystopia genre. I think this book is better than those that follow. It is written as if you are reading the journal of the main character sometime in the future. Great book must read!