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We

By: Yevgeny Zamyatin, Ursula K. Le Guin, George Orwell, Margaret Atwood - introduction, Bela Shayevich - translator
Narrated by: Louise Brealey, Margaret Atwood, Toby Jones
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The One State is the perfect society, ruled over by the enlightened Benefactor. It is a city made almost entirely of glass, where surveillance is universal and life runs according to algorithmic rules to ensure perfect happiness. And D-503, the Builder, is the ideal citizen, at least until he meets I-330, who opens his eyes to new ideas of love, sex and freedom.

A foundational work of dystopian fiction, inspiration for both Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Huxley’s Brave New World, WE is a book of radical imaginings – of control and rebellion, surveillance and power, machine intelligence and human inventiveness, sexuality and desire. It is both a warning and a hope for a better world.

This new edition also includes Ursula K. Le Guin's essay 'The Stalin in the Soul' on the enduring influence of Zamyatin's masterpiece, and George Orwell's 1946 review of WE.

 Classics Dystopian Science Fiction Fiction
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Critic reviews

"The best single work of science fiction yet written" (URSULA K. LE GUIN)
"Two of the most iconic novels in the English language – Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and 1984 by George Orwell – owe an enormous debt to Zamyatin. We is the ur-text of science-fiction dystopias . . . the product of a powerful imagination"
"The prototype . . . Zamyatin is a major artist"
"This new edition, which contains Orwell’s review as well as an introduction by Margaret Atwood, an afterword by Ursula Le Guin and an absorbing comment by the translator Bela Shayevich, who grew up in the former Soviet Union, will be the definitive version in English for the foreseeable future"
"[A] fine new translation . . . In a market of competing editions . . . Shayevich’s stands out, and for very good reason . . . truly excellent . . . Shayevich’s [translation] retains the novel’s bold, jagged, elemental energy [and] remains true to the spirit of the work in a way that the author himself would have applauded"
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A seminal dystopian classic . . . This timely and thoughtful edition is a fitting tribute to book of lasting influence

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"It is in effect a study of the Machine, the genie that man has thoughtlessly let out of its bottle and cannot put back again" (GEORGE ORWELL)
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Great discovery, Toby Jones reading drew me to try this book (he's always a good reader), and I'm so glad I did. It's over 100 years old but feels so current.

Fabulous - it inspired Brave New World and 1984

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Holy moley, I came across We by accident, and it's a belter. The book that inspired Huxley and Orwell. It's as good as their versions too. Orwell sort of retold the story for 1984, it seems. Mind you, the wonderful Audible version with a new translation of We is not only read by Toby Jones but also includes Orwell's 1946 review of the book, where he sings its praises. I loved this book, and it certainly doesn't feel like it was written in 1920.

The book that changed everything.

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Excellent story expressing rebellion against conformity to the desires of industrial society. The human not being a cog in a machine.

Personal conflict of Reason and Emotion

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Honestly this story is almost worth reading for the intro by Margaret Atwood and the commentary by Orwell and LeGuin at the end.

It’s an interesting take on the dystopian society which has convinced itself that it is a utopia, and a deeper view that Brave New World managed.

Thought provoking early 20th century dystopian story.

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It is a shame I just now listened to the book first time, I was not aware of this book, inspiration for 1984 and many others. Was it my favourite book, no, but a very important one.

Grandpa of dystopian SF

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