less than 1 minute read

Zamyatin, Evgeny



Zamyatin, Evgeny

(Soviet/Russian, 1884–1937)

Zamyatin was born in Lebedyan, and studied naval architecture in St Petersburg. He began writing following his imprisonment and subsequent deportation for taking part in the unsuccessful Revolution of 1905. A senior literary figure after the 1917 Revolution, his writing made him suspect and he emigrated to Paris around 1930. Begin with his only novel, We (1920–1), a futuristic account of a totally regulated society which influenced Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). The story's doomed lovers embody irrational urges towards which the state is hostile. Zamyatin's picture of stagnation under a benevolent dictator was taken as an allegory of Stalinism and the book remained long unpublished in the Soviet Union. Dragon (1966) is a collection of his short stories, which range from social satires to the science fiction of ‘The Most Important Thing’.



George Orwell, H. G. Wells, Aldous Huxley. See RUSSIA  DH

Additional topics

Literature Reference: American Literature, English Literature, Classics & Modern FictionBooks & Authors: Award-Winning Fiction (Tr-Z)