Yevgeny Zamyatin

Yevgeny Zamyatin was a Russian novelist, short-story writer, and literary critic. His novel We helped establish modern dystopian fiction.

We: A dystopian novel by Yevgeny Zamyatin, set in a state that regulates its citizens through mathematics, surveillance, and rigid schedules. This novel is Zamyatin’s best-known work and the clearest expression of his dystopian vision.
Lebedyan: A town in Russia’s Lipetsk region and the birthplace of Yevgeny Zamyatin. Zamyatin’s provincial upbringing began in this town.
Dystopian fiction: Fiction depicting an oppressive society whose institutions and values produce severe human costs. We is a landmark example that helped shape the genre’s modern form.
Soviet censorship: State control and suppression of expression in the Soviet Union. Authorities prevented We from appearing in the Soviet Union during Zamyatin’s lifetime.
Russian literature: Literature written in Russian, encompassing works from the medieval period to the present. Zamyatin’s fiction belongs to a tradition he both drew on and challenged.
Saint Petersburg State Marine Technical University: A Russian university specializing in marine engineering and shipbuilding. Zamyatin studied naval engineering there before turning to literature.
Unreliable narrator: A narrator whose account cannot be accepted as fully accurate or complete. The protagonist’s changing perceptions make the state’s apparent order increasingly unstable.
George Orwell: An English novelist and essayist known for political works including Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm. Orwell reviewed We and recognized its significance for political dystopian fiction.
Russian Revolution: The upheavals of 1917 that ended imperial rule in Russia and brought the Bolsheviks to power. The revolution shaped the political climate in which Zamyatin wrote and published.
Russian Navy: The naval forces of the Russian state. His engineering career brought him into contact with naval shipbuilding and British shipyards.

Linked from 2 pages

Alexander BelyaevRelated: Zamyatin represents an earlier Russian tradition of using imagined futures to examine society.