(no subject)
We
By Yevgeny Zamyatin
translated by Mirra Ginsburg
This is a dystopia I never got to as a teen ager. I suspect I wouldn't have gotten far even if I had picked it up. It starts a bit slowly.
I had a bit of trouble at first, this time. I nearly put it down when I got to the 'table of the hours'. If I were an evil overlord, I would NOT have everyone eating, sleeping, and exercising at the same time - it's woefully inefficient. It's totally absurd... As are the apparent laws about reproduction.
It is, of course, deliberately absurd. Once I realized that, I was able to go back and read it. It's very much a 'project present trends to their illogical conclusion' sort of book - far more poetic than prophetic - which is fine. It's actually very much a part of the theme of the book as well.
The story is about dehumanization, and people becoming numbers... yet, far more than the other dystopias I've read, the plot is driven by passion. Who loves whom, who lusts for whom, how do you seduce someone when anyone can be legally compelled to have sex with anyone else, and sexuality is a state controlled commodity...? Heck, it even deals with how a new lover can disrupt a polyamorous relationship.
Again, the central questions have to deal with the nature of freedom, and the nature of betrayal. The corruption of society is less important than the corruption of self. The 'hero' actually does love the state, all the way through, he just loves the traitor more.
Very interesting stuff. Not sure how much of Zamyatin's other work made it into English, though.