Zamyatin's We

Zamyatin's We is quite unique and influential in the history of the dystopian novel. And though I have possessed a personal copy of the text for at least 3 years, only now have I felt compelled to read it. Perhaps this is due to watching Ergo Proxy, a dark science fiction story set in a post-apocalyptic future in which the remnants of the planet's population resides in a domed, false utopia (akin to a panopticon, but several decades before Foucault's famed one). While We lacks the particularly obvious Gnostic themes (although one wonders if I-330 represented Sophia, the Benefactor the Demiurge, and the members of the Mephi secret society the aeons against the false Guardians of One State's Green Walls?) of Ergo Proxy, the idea of a dystopian society in a domed city, separated from nature, appealed to me. 

While Mirra Ginsburg's translation may not be the best attempt to render it in English, her rendering of the rambling thoughts of its narrator, D-503, a mathematician working on the Integral spaceship, ring loud and clear in the incoherent manner of someone questioning the status quo in One State. Falling head over heels for a woman who, in the end, may be exploiting him to steal the Integral, D-503 gains a soul, begins to dream, and suffers from imagination. In the "utopia" of One State, which has crushed freedom for happiness (since the only way to achieve happiness, is for the authoritarian Benefactor to eradicate individuality in the cold, hard pursuit of Reason alone), the totalitarian regime has erected a cult of Reason, Taylorism, and uniformity. In in its teleological view of human history, with the One State as the final revolution, democracy, "ancient" family structures, and non-regulated sexual unions are primitive. 

Of course, as I-330 tells the narrator, there is no final revolution. Neither the Russian Revolution or the various left-wing or fascist movements of the 20th century were "final" revolutions either. Written before the rise of Stalin, one can see why Zamyatin became a thorn in the side of the Soviet Union. His entire worldview is antithetical to the rise of the modern state in the 20th century, and still relevant today. Of course, one wonders if an authoritarian state is even necessary anymore for some of the same outcomes today. Unfortunately, I think the text, structured as journal entries by the narrator, has some limitations as it does not explore the fascinating world outside of the Green Wall. I also would have liked to learn more about the humans living outside the confines of the dome, the "hairy" beings who at first appear to be noble savages representing liberation. Are they the equivalent of the Native Americans in Brave New World? Either way, this is an enjoyable read that has cemented my interest in dystopian literature.