When reason goes out of mind. Towards the Understanding of Zamiatin's Dystopian Novel 'We'

Abstract

Yevgeny Zamiatin's novel "We" is one of the most important literary texts for the understanding of intellectual climate and actual political situation in early Soviet Russia. It is also a variation on the themes of Plato's "Republic". It is often thought that Zamiatin criticizes the rational foundations of the Platonic utopia alongside with the “rationally grounded” bolshevik dictatorship. The author of the present paper attempts to show that Zamiatin's intention is to picture the transformation of reason in its opposite, i. e. the irrational magical force that turns human beings into slaves, while any appeal to reason becomes an incantation which serves as an instrument of governing the society. Zamiatin struggled against ideology as he was aware of its prospective development more than anyone else. Not only the Russian events caused his anxiety, he envisaged a whole system of violence that would organize the world to the rules of a madhouse. In this mental asylum the reason will be but one of the patients. Western culture did not have to wait long to acquire a similar experience, and Zamiatin's novel was there to offer George Orwell a paradigm to follow in his "1984".