In Soviet author Yevgenii Zamyatin’s futuristic novel We, the citizens of One State live in apartments made of glass so that they can be monitored constantly.
We is the ultimate dystopian novel. Written in 1921, decades before A Brave New World and 1984, it is all the more poignant considering its author lived through the 1905 and 1917 revolutions.
Zamyatin believed in the Russian Revolution, but he was quickly disillusioned with the reality of life under Bolshevik rule.
I have written before about his 1931 letter to Stalin requesting deportation rather than suffering a “literary death” under Communism. For most people the letter would have been the equivalent of a suicide note, but Stalin let Zamyatin go.
I thought of Zamyatin and his glass apartment today when I read this news brief from Iran:
Tehran, 17 May (AKI) - Owners of trendy internet cafes, as well as bars and restaurants popular with young Iranians have received a letter signed by national police authorities in which new measures are announced to enforce “the country’s moral health.” “Public places will not be allowed to use dark windows anymore or curtains which make it impossible to view from the outside what is going on inside,” said the letter, which states in particular that men and women must not be allowed inside internet cafes together but in separate days or schedules “to avoid unpleasant promiscuity.”
Via Anorak.
Indeed, it is frightening at times how far-sighted Zamiatin was in this novel - especially considering that his other works are charming and well written, but entirely of their time. The book also, of course, influenced the HBO series ‘Oz’ - I’m sure you must have seen it, but if not, take a look - it is an unrelentingly grim take on the US penal system.