Books: We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

[woodwardiocom]

-This is an early Russian dystopian novel, banned in the Soviet Union. It was one of the major inspirations for Nineteen Eighty-Four. Also, kinda dull. I'm afraid I didn't finish it.

Edit: It's the Mirra Ginsburg translation.

Comments

[feste-sylvain.livejournal.com]

"We" requires a certain mind-set. Unfortunately for the flow of the narrative, Zemyatin (or however that name is transliterated) did an excellent job of conveying the deadening of spirit.

As a science fiction story goes, it's a real foreign film.

That all said, I liked it.

[sebastian-tombs.livejournal.com]

I liked it, although I read it many years ago, senior year in high school iirc, while I was reading other dystopian books. Don't remember much of them.

[signsoflife.livejournal.com]

I think it's best read in a young adult frenzy with a sea of other dystopias. The ending is the best part -- hope slipping away -- but I've never quite found the desire to re-read it. You can TOTALLY tell how 1984 was inspired by it, though.

[beowabbit]

Hmmm. I didn’t find it dull, but I read it in Russian, so maybe that was affected by the fact that having to look words up slowed me down anyway.

Do you happen to remember who translated the version you read? I find that for some reason translations from Russian often tend to come off as dry and academic, even when the original isn’t that way at all.

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

What translation? I gather there's a new one out.