michealhead's Full Review: Evgenii Ivanovich Zamiatin and Clarence Brown - We
Often, a great work of literature gets relegated to some obscure section of the bookshelf. In many cases, it is merely because it is often replaced in the reader's mind by more modern, more elegant prose. Such is the case with We, subjected to a life in the shadow of other literary visions of dystopian future; Huxley's Brave New World or Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, which Zamyatin's work greatly inspired. Nonetheless, We stands on its own as a prophetic admonition of the dangers of socialist totalitarianism.
Zamyatin's dark satire begins in the far future, with all of humanity, as a result of the cataclysm of two hundred years of war drawn into large cities to live under the control of the Great Benefactor, with disobedience of the edicts of the Benefactor resulting in immediate, and literal liquidation. All art, literature and music sing the praises of the One State, the Great Benefactor, and all forms of expression say exactly the same thing.
The tale is told to us by D-503, chief engineer overseeing the building of the Integral, a spaceship designed to spread the word and the influence of the Benefactor to the planets beyond. D-503 is seemingly the modern citizen: he sees to his job, all ordered social occasions, even to matters of sexual contact with O-90, his friend, as a good citizen should, punctually, dutifully, as a man with absolute faith in his world. All of this begins to unravel with the introduction of I-330.
Zamyatin use of I-330's beauty and strength to tempt D-503 is as the Snake tempting Eve in the Garden, and both end similarly: in Zamyatim's novel, D-503 is opened to a different level of living. He is suddenly set upon by the notion of having a soul, and the resultant challenge to justify his existence up to this point. He finds himself pursuing a romantic relationship with I-330, and continues to try to meet with her clandestinely. He begins to view the world he is part of as a fraud, and begins to miss his responsibilities.
Ultimately, I-330 tells D-503 of the ultimate cause; She and others are attempt to steal the Integral in order to fervent revolution. He, as the primary pilot must assist them, to insure the takeover of the vessel. D-503 also faces the possibility of committing another crime when he is asked by O-90 to father a child, one the State hasn't given permission for. Even though it means his downfall if caught, he acquiesces to both.
At the same time, D-503 finds out about a miracle process physicians have discovered, that the soul has a physical location, a small node located in the brain. When the soul, or imagination is surgically removed, the number (the assignation given to humanity in the novel) becomes the perfect drone: completely obedient, never capable of conceiving the abstract thought necessary to question the Benefactor or his rule. The Benefactors orders the surgery to begin, resulting in growing animosity from parts of the population.
Zamyatin's satire is obvious, a clear broadside aimed at the mindless bureaucrats who began to take control of Russian forms of artistic expression during the rise of Stalin and his minions to power. The concept that the Politburo put forth that all art, literature and music should simply trumpet the greatness of the Soviet state was an abomination to Zamyatin's creative sensibilities. Wasn't the revolution, and socialism supposed to free the people's right of expression, and subsequently, their art? Wasn't the way now paved for those who had long experienced the oppression of the Tsars to criticize the fledgling Soviet society, to hope that artistic voices could contribute in their fashion to aid in building a more just society for all? What irony it was that Zamyatin, who himself had been arrested and detained for his part in the abortive 1905 revolt against the Tsar, to find himself increasing censored by groups who were supposed to be on his side. This novel, published in 1920, was banned on publication, and its reading at the Writer's Union three years later brought Zamyatin attacks from the party elite.
There is a distinct parallel in both the closing of the novel, and the tale of the author itself. In the novel, the attempt to seize the Integral fails, and D-503 and his conspirators are arrested. D-503 surrenders the names of those he knows, and is then surgically relieved of his soul, to surrender to the bliss of the Benefactor. I-330 also confesses, and presumably shares the same fate.
Such as it was for the author Zamyatin, who finally was completely banned from publishing any work by the Russian government, and finally forced to leave his beloved homeland for exile in 1931.
As bad as both endings seem, the novel tells us continuing resistance, wars in the western districts of the city, and of O-90, who has escaped the city walls, the little life within her growing. Zamyatin's work, as well survives the society which chose to ban it, and We remains as a cautionary tale of what might occur if we leave our responsibilities and our rights all to the control of others, and silence the voices that demand accountability of those we put in charge.
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