#we zamyatin

[simcardiac-arrested]

i escaped from a lab and now they’re just letting me draw anything

[quibbs126]

You know, I’d love to take more classes that teach me about the historical context of certain books

I was watching some videos about Animal Farm today (mostly about the animated movie), and it reminded me of a book we went over in my World Literature class, Yevgeny Zamyatin’s “We”, since it was another book that criticized communist Russia during the days of Stalin (okay I think they had different points; Animal Farm seems to have been more a warning of what communism will do, while We was meant to actually criticize the Soviet Union, considering Zamyatin lived there). I remember going over the context in class, and it was legitimately so interesting to learn about. Admittedly, I don’t remember much about the actual book, in part because I never really read much of it (though I plan to since I still have it), but the history of the author and book itself was so interesting, and I would have never known about it had I not taken the class and my professor not talk about it, and it along with the other books we learned the context for really just makes me want to learn more historical contexts for books

By the way, if you want the history I’m talking about, I’ll give a summary based on what I was told in class, though I don’t remember all the details (I’ll pull out my notes from it). Basically Zamyatin was an avid supporter of the Bolsheviks and their revolution against the Tsar (Zamyatin was Russian if I didn’t make that clear), and being active in the movement, such as being an editor for a newspaper and writing editorials supporting the revolution. However, once the party started cracking down on human rights and dissenting voices, he became disillusioned with the party, and he starts writing critiques on it, as well as writing We. He finished it in 1920, and ended up sending to Europe to be published, so that the rest of the world could know what was going on in Russia (We doesn’t directly take place in the Soviet Union, it’s a sci fi dystopian novel set in the far future, but the society (the One State) takes obvious inspiration from it). Meanwhile he read manuscripts of his work in St Petersburg, and it became the first manuscript banned in the Soviet Union, with Zamyatin being marginalized for his work and losing his job. Zamyatin eventually becomes so disillusioned with the Soviets that he writes a letter to Stalin requesting he and his family be allowed to leave. The only reason Stalin allows this is because Zamyatin was good friends with another writer named Gorky (unfortunately I don’t remember what the significance of Gorky to Stalin was, I didn’t write that down in my notes). Zamyatin had hoped that the Soviet Union would collapse in a few years so that they could return, but unfortunately he didn’t get to live to see it, dying in 1937

Sorry, I went off on a bit of a history lesson there, but I think this stuff is pretty fascinating, and I would love to hear more of the history behind books (if I haven’t made that clear already)

[soracities]

In the morning, the sun is rosy, transparent, warm gold. And the air itself is a little rosy, all steeped in the sun's gentle blood. Everything is alive: stones are living and soft; iron is living and warm....

Yevgeny Zamyatin, We (trans. Natasha Randall)

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Yevgeny Zamyatin - We - Avon/Bard - 1972 (cover design by Hal Siegel)

[the-book-guild]

Book Guild Meetings

I want to get the ball rolling on the first book read here in the guild but I've stumped myself with my choices. Since I cannot for the life of me pick between these works, I am posing it to all of you! Winner of the poll will be read as the inaugural book of the guild.

For the record, I have already read all of these and will be re-reading them. This way I can better guide the meetings since I will be the least bit familiar with them. These are all relatively short and we should be able to finish them before December.

[artquiem]

Humility is a virtue, and pride a vice; “we” is from god, and “I” from the devil.

[unhavoc]

"But isn't blooming a sickness? Doesn't it hurt when the bud bursts open?"

- Yevgeny Zamyatin, We

[drjohannn]

I-330 and O-90 from Zamyatin's "We".

[slugcat-in-gundam]

I dislike it when people try to poeticize terms from math or physics and in the process of it they say completely false things, or use the terms incorrectly. I probably sound like an obnoxious asshole but its only my pet peeve. Like, math is beautiful by itself. You don't need to force math terms into a fancy poetic metaphor or something.

[ahdndnaneb]

“A person is like a novel: Up to the very last page you don’t know how it’s going to end. Otherwise, there’d be no point in reading…”

— Yevgeny Zamyatin, We

[haveyoureadthisscifibook]

vote yes if you have finished the entire book.

vote no if you have not finished the entire book.

(faq · submit a book)

[thelastofthebookworms]

You'll find the other polls in my 'sf polls' tag / my pinned post.

[quibbs126]

Why are the two main things on my mind today the Legend of the Red Dragon story and communism?

[soracities]

I am alone. Or, more like: alone with that other "me".

Yevgeny Zamyatin, We (trans. Natasha Randall)

[osoavefanciulla]

adore this section on mortality in We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

[barnbridges]

my favorite video on al gore's internet was the one saying that the most superior literary dystopia was aldous huxley's brave new world and the worst was the hunger games, with no real understanding of the context either novel came from and that brave new world is literally plagiarized but ok.