An early take on the dystopian future, Yevgeny Zamyatin's WE shares the joy and horror of a life without individuality.
Evidently, famed authors George Orwell and Aldous Huxley fought over Zamyatin's WE. Orwell claimed that Huxley ripped the novel off for Brave New World. Huxley denied this. Regardless, the novels bear some similarity.
Having conquered the Earth, the One State feels its time to take their homogenous society to the stars. Zamyatin introduces us to D-503, a scientist living in the One State helping to build Integral, a glorious starship. Included in the cargo of the ship will be poems and prose written by members of the One State, sharing the joys of living as a cog in their machine. When D-503 starts to keep a journal, with the intent of sending his thoughts and feelings into space, he starts to learn a few things…
If you like classic science fiction you should absolutely give WE a read! It is very quick and very good.
