Yevgeny Zamyatin (1884-1937) was a Russian novelist, engineer and critic whose satirical fiction challenged authoritarian rationalism after the Russian Revolution. Trained as a naval engineer, he brought mathematical and technical imagery into literature. We became a foundational dystopian novel and influenced later works such as Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four.
written 1920–1921; first published (English) 1924 · Early 20th Century · Novel
We is presented as the diary or record of D-503, mathematician and builder of the spaceship Integral in the OneState, a glass-walled totalitarian society ruled by the Benefactor. Citizens, called Numbers, live by tables of hours, regulated labor, monitored sex, prescribed walks and transparent architecture.
