Zamyatin, Yevgeni (1884-1937), a Russian author, is best known for his novel We. The novel is dystopian—that is, rather than describing an ideal society (a utopia), it represents a bleak society. We takes place in the “One State,” a totalitarian society in the 2500’s. The inhabitants are enclosed by a great wall. They live in glass apartments, have numbers instead of names, eat chemical foods, wear identical uniforms, and have every aspect of their lives regulated by the tyrannical government.
Zamyatin wrote We in 1921, but it was not published until 1924, in an English translation. The novel aroused the opposition of government censors, which led to Zamyatin’s resignation from the Union of Soviet Writers and prevented his work from being published in the Soviet Union. We influenced other works of science fiction, including Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World (1932) and George Orwell’s 1984 (1949). Although the novel was circulated in manuscript form in Eastern Europe for many years, it was not officially published in Russia until 1988.
Yevgeni Ivanovich Zamyatin was born on Feb. 1, 1884, in Lebedyan in central Russia. He was trained to be a naval engineer and for a time, pursued dual careers in engineering and writing. His anti-establishment attitudes often brought him into conflict with government authorities. He was exiled in 1905 and 1911 for his political activities.
Zamyatin established his literary reputation with the short novel A Provincial Tale (1913), a satire on life in the Russian provinces. He lived in England during World War I (1914-1918), supervising the construction of Russian icebreakers. He wrote two satirical works based on his years in England, The Islanders (1918) and Fisher of Men (1922). During the 1920’s, he was the leader of a group of young writers known as the Serapion Brothers, who advocated nonconformity and freedom in literature. In addition to his fiction, Zamyatin also wrote literary essays and plays.
In 1929, Zamyatin published an open letter to Russian dictator Joseph Stalin, requesting to be allowed to leave the country after the author was severely attacked by the Soviet press. Zamyatin was permitted to leave, settling in Paris in 1931, where he spent the rest of his life. Zamyatin died on March 10, 1937.
