Yevgeny Zamyatin, We — Threads on the Face—Sprouts… (1924)
“ From above pieces of blue towers and walls were falling downward with terrific speed . . . they will have perhaps hours or days to fly through the infinite. . . . Unseen threads were slowly floating through the air, planting themselves upon my face, and it was impossible to brush them off, impossible to rid myself of them. I walked slowly toward the Ancient House, and in my heart I felt that absurd, tormenting compression. ”
Yevgeny Zamyatin, We — Threads on the Face—Sprouts… (1924)
“ Layout 2 RECORD TWENTY-NINE Threads on the FaceSproutsAn Unnatural Compression It is strange: the barometer continues to fall, yet there is no wind. There is quiet. Above, the storm which we do not yet hear has begun. The clouds are rushing with terrific speed. There are few of them as yet, separate fragments; it is as if above us an unknown city were being destroyed and pieces of walls and towers were rushing down, coming nearer and nearer with tremendous speed, but it will take some days of rushing through the blue infinite before they reach the bottom, that is us, below. ”
Yevgeny Zamyatin, We — Threads on the Face—Sprouts… (1924)
“ And in my heart an unpleasant, even a painful compression, mixed with pity. Our heart is nothing else than an ideal pump: a compression, i.e., a shrinking at the moment of pumping, is a technical absurdity. ”
