We

Here's the second part of my two-part dystopian-themed Christmas gift from Dee. (Thanks, Dee!) We is considered to be the godfather of all 20th century dystopian fiction; Brave New World, 1984, and several other works they helped inspire are all either admittedly or allegedly derived from some of the concepts put forth here in this 1921 novel by Yevgeny Zamyatin. Initially sympathetic to the communist movement in Russia, Zamyatin quickly turned his back on the powers that be once it became evident they were, you know, violating some basic human rights and such. For the most part, We was a very typical dystopian novel. This makes sense; it was a prototype for all future 20th century dystopian fiction, after all. To a certain extent, then, We felt very familiar to me even though I'd never read it before. You have the standard protagonist who spends the first act of the novel explaining his virtuous futuristic society. In the second act, his eyes are opened up to the realities of the atrocities his seemingly perfect government is capable of, and naturally he and everyone he cares about gets fucked over by an iron fist by the novel's end (or at the very least, re-brainwashed into accepting, trusting, and even loving the totalitarian government). One thing I appreciate about good dystopian fiction - which can admittedly feel kind of stale and dated given the way the Soviet Union ultimately ended - is that it makes the reader stop and think about just what mankind's ultimate purpose is. Is the ideal man free to spend his time and efforts on whatever he pleases, or is he efficient and productive? Does he think and imagine and dream, or are his contributions more physical in nature? Is it on society to serve the needs of the individual, or is it on the individual to serve the needs of the society? We may have been a reaction to the policies of the early Communists in Russia, but many of its themes and messages are still fairly relevant today in the 21st century western world. We wasn't the best written or most clever or poignant dystopian novel I've ever read, nor will it go down as the most memorable, but it was interesting all the same to read a book with such an historic legacy in the literary field.