"Zamyatin . . . did more than predict some of the specific characteristics of totalitarianism―he predicted its defining condition: the destruction of the individual. . . . [He] found the word for it:
We." ―
Masha Gessen, from the Foreword "The best single work of science fiction yet written." –
Ursula K. Le Guin "[Zamyatin's] intuitive grasp of the irrational side of totalitarianism–human sacrifice, cruelty as an end in itself–makes [
We] superior to Huxley's [
Brave New World]." –
George Orwell "At this dystopian moment in world politics, everyone's talking about
1984, but take a look at the novel that inspired it (or, at least, which George Orwell reviewed soon before he wrote
1984)–Yevgeny Zamyatin's
We. . . . The dystopia Zamyatin painted has, alas, many echoes with today's surveillance society–just think of China's budding 'social credit' program, which monitors citizens' movements. Big Brother was a piker, compared to Xi Jinping. Zamyatin saw it coming." –
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