Yevgeny Zamyatin

Name: We — A Letter—A Membrane—Hairy I
Author: Yevgeny Zamyatin

We — A Letter—A Membrane—Hairy I (1924)

Summary

“We — A Letter—A Membrane—Hairy I”, published in 1924, is a work by Yevgeny Zamyatin. It explores elements such as the Bureau of Guardians, triangle and curtains.

Quotes from We — A Letter—A Membrane—Hairy I (Yevgeny Zamyatin)

Yevgeny Zamyatin, We — A Letter—A Membrane—Hairy I (1924)

“ She stood up and stretched herself lazily. She pressed the button, and the curtains on all four walls fell with a slight rustle. I was cut off from the rest of the world, alone with her.
She was somewhere behind me, near the closet door. The unif was rustling, falling. I was listening, all listening. I remembered—no, it glistened in my mind for one hundredth of a second—I once had to calculate the curve of a new type of street membrane. (These membranes are handsomely decorated and are placed over all the avenues, registering all street conversations for the Bureau of Guardians.) ”

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Source: Wikisource

Yevgeny Zamyatin, We — A Letter—A Membrane—Hairy I (1924)

“ Is it possible that she really . . . that she . . .
A quarter to twenty-one. A white northern night. Everything was glass, greenish. But it was a different kind of glass, not like ours, not genuine but very breakable, a thin glass shell, and within that shell things were flying, whirling, buzzing. I wouldn’t have been surprised if suddenly the cupola of the auditorium had risen in slow, rolling clouds of smoke; or if the ripe moon had sent an inky smile, like that one at the little table this morning, or if in every house suddenly all the curtains had been lowered, and behind the curtains . . ”

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Source: Wikisource

Yevgeny Zamyatin, We — A Letter—A Membrane—Hairy I (1924)

“ What had she there, behind her lowered curtains? What would she say? What would she do in a second? How to learn it? How to calculate it, since she comes from beyond, from the wild, ancient land of dreams? I looked at her in silence. My ribs were iron bars. The space for the heart was too small . . . When she speaks, her face is like a swiftly revolving, glittering wheel; you cannot see the separate bars. But at that moment the wheel was motionless. I saw a strange combination: dark eyebrows running right to the temples—a sharp, mocking triangle ”

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Source: Wikisource

Yevgeny Zamyatin, We — A Letter—A Membrane—Hairy I (1924)

“ To let out into the street such a group of baldheaded, naked little truths. Only imagine, please. Imagine, say, that persistent admirer of mine—S-, well, you know him. Then imagine: if he should discard the deception of clothes and appear in public in his true form. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Yevgeny Zamyatin, We — A Letter—A Membrane—Hairy I (1924)

“ The wheel started to turn; its bars blurred.
“So you did not go to the Bureau of Guardians, after all?”
“I did . . . I did not feel well . . . I could not.”
“Yes? I thought so; something must have prevented you, it matters little what”—sharp teeth—a smile. “But now you are in my hands. You remember: ‘Any Number who within forty-eight hours fails to report to the Bureau is considered . . ”

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Source: Wikisource

Yevgeny Zamyatin, We — A Letter—A Membrane—Hairy I (1924)

“ Dark brows raised high to the temples, the sharp mocking triangle.
“‘It is more reasonable to annihilate a few than to allow many to poison themselves. . . . And degeneration,’ . . . etc. . . . This is true to the point of indecency.” ”

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Source: Wikisource

Yevgeny Zamyatin, We — A Letter—A Membrane—Hairy I (1924)

“ Sharp teeth. . . . The sharp, mocking triangle of the brows. . . . She bent over and in silence unbuttoned my badge.
“Yes, yes, dear—dear.”
I began hastily to remove my unif. But I-330, silent as before, lifted my badge to my eyes, showing me the clock upon it. It was twenty-two-twenty-five.
I became cold. I knew what it meant to be out in the street after twenty-two-thirty. My insanity disappeared at once. I was again I. I saw clearly one thing: I hated her, hated her, hated . . . ”

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Source: Wikisource

Yevgeny Zamyatin, We — A Letter—A Membrane—Hairy I (1924)

“ It was my foolish imagination, the effect of the poison.
The night was full of torture. My bed seemed to lift itself under me, then to fall again, then up again! I used autosuggestion: “At night all the Numbers must sleep; sleeping at night is a duty just like working during the day. To sleep at night is necessary for the next day’s work. Not to sleep at night is criminal.” ”

Yevgeny Zamyatin

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Quotes from We — A Letter—A Membrane—Hairy I (Yevgeny Zamyatin)

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