Zamyatin - "On Language" and "We"

Zamyatin’s dystopian novel “We”, covers most of the specific internal devices and principles he himself sums up in his essay “On Language”.

In his paper “On Language” Zamyatin discusses the concepts he believes outline literary writing. I have divided and analysed his essay into three main arguments which I consider are expressed in his novel “We”; firstly, Zamyatin’s conclusion that literary works are categorized into lyrical and epic writing rather than prose and poetry, secondly, Zamyatin’s dwelling on the following thesis: “an epic work is theater, acting”, and thirdly in his appreciation of  the spoken and mental language in literature.

First of all, Zamyatin argues that literary works are not divided by prose and poetry, rather by lyrical and epic writing. Thus, according to Zamyatin, his novel “We” would lie under the category of an epic literary work, which leads the reader into a journey through interplanetary space, where the writer must experience the emotions of his characters, these alienated people and personalities.

As far as my reading Zamyatin’s work has allowed me, I am able to say that he is able to lead us, the readers, into this futuristic nation and time he has created, the One State; he leads us into the lives of these foreign people who are named after a series of numbers, and specially into the mind and life of D-503. Zamyatin has achieved what he proposes in “On Language”; he is able to reincarnate himself into the cahracters, period and milieu portrayed (milieu – physical or social setting in which something occurs or develops). This, he is able to achieve from the very beginning of the novel, making Zamyatin possess an “essential psychological condition” that writers must attempt to have.

Thirdly, I consider that one of the most important categories of Zamyatin’s essay that he has been able to achieve in his novel “We” is of the proper creation and use of the spoken and mental language. As readers we are able to easily penetrate D-503 mind through Zamyatin’s writing. He conveys the characters thoughts; fragmented, scattered, as it should be.

Zamyatin also develops in “On Language” an analysis on the method of ommission of psychological lines, the supply of very little hints in literary prose, idea that correlates to my reading of “We”, given that he creates this kind of  futuristic/One State jargon, given by terms such as “the benefactor”, the “green wall” and even the use of numbers to name his own characters. These terms the reader cannot understand until further explanation.

Zamyatin’s “On Language” allows me understand his own writing, which at first is believed to be somewhat complicated and imcomprehensible in “We”. However I am able to realize and understand that that is the only way to portray this novel in a realistic and reliable manner.