Zamyatin’s essay On Language critiques, analyzes and gives advice on how to write the perfect novel that will capture the reader through its style of writing. In his own novel, We was he able to remain true to his ideology? I believe he did keeping in mind the constraints of his novel. In his novel he discusses the style of famous writers such as Dickens and Tolstoy who were able to draw on sources and historical references, in terms of language and settings to bring to life their characters. He advises the writer must draw on primary and secondary sources and even live among the locals of a provincial setting, if the novel is set there, for inspiration. Zamyatin’s novel is science fiction and set in a time where all events, language and thought process of his protagonist can only come from the imagination of the author. In fact, the reader with no experience of such a time or place cannot verify the authenticity of his work. However, he did draw from his personal experiences of Communist Russia, the Revolution, and oppression to derive a futuristic, modern satire, making his work highly original and hard - hitting.
Zamyatin discusses in lengths, that there are no longer divisions in poetry and prose, but that division only exists in lyrical and epic works. I believe We is an epic work in which he aptly, as discussed in the essay, gets into the skin of the character, D-503. However, he is not totally ‘invisible’ as he advises authors to be, as the essence of his complex, multi-faceted protagonist is again inspired from his own feelings about the regime he faced in present day Russia. He uses this novel to give a political message, through his own vision and opinion. In On Language he compares the author to an actor on stage, “the writer must be a great and talented actor, a dramatic genius.” In We he certainly has been able to transform himself into a mathematician who lives a controlled robotic existence. His usage of language where D-503 uses mathematical formulae such as X to describe I-330 expression that he fails to interpret is genius on his part, “but in the eyes, or in the eyebrows –I could not tell –there was a certain strange, irritating x, which I could not capture, could not define in figures,” (6). How accurately he portrays D-503 as an almost android being that cannot fathom emotion, and is frustrated if unable to solve his equation of life. Yes, he was able to practice what he preaches, and “reincarnate himself wholly into the characters, the milieu he is portraying.”
Zamyatin in his essay discusses the spoken and written language and the difficulties writers face in translating real spoken language, and fleeting thoughts into a literary piece as dialogue. This problem will exist more in modern or historical novels where living speech is as rightly stated more fluid, dynamic, without complete sentences, and only proficient writers can successfully capture this on paper. However, in We D-503 has been trained to think like a computer with careful thoughts. Further, each chapter is written as a diary entry where he carefully sits and plans his thought plan. D-503 writes to explain his way of life to the aliens where his diary is being sent. In this clever form he indirectly speaks to us the reader and describes events, landscapes, surroundings etc, so that we are able to understand, as his way of living is alien to us. He also creates neologisms such as “unifs” but breaks his rule and distracts with footnotes. He does however, as advised in his essay, portray thought and allows the reader to be “a participant in the creative process,” by breaking up sentences, such as “but why was it that I, too ….I?”(17).
Zamyatin in his fictional novel in part has created an autobiography of his awakening in Russia. In terms of language, the writer has mostly been able to practice what he preached in his essay On Language, thus far. He has successfully written a complex, powerful, provocative, satire. Though Zamyatin’s We is futuristic, it deals with basic human emotions such as tragic love as the backbone of the novel, which is universal and relatable to the reader.
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