Yevgeny Zamyatin

Yevgeny Ivanovich Zamyatin was born on February 1, 1884, in Lebedyan, Tambov Governorate, in the Russian Empire. His father was a Russian Orthodox priest and his mother was a musician. While studying naval engineering in Saint Petersburg from 1902-1908, Zamyatin joined the Bolsheviks, though he would later become ambivalent toward or critical of many of the Soviet Union’s policies later in his life. Zamyatin’s engineering background plays out in the mathematical themes present throughout We. He was arrested during the Russian Revolution of 1905 as a student activist and exiled to Siberia. He escaped, returned to Saint Petersburg, and lived there illegally. He was arrested and exiled again in 1911 and amnestied in 1913. Zamyatin began to write satires during his arrest, most notably “In the Backwoods,” which was published in 1914. After being sent to work in England, Zamyatin returned to Russia and was given literary work by socialist realism writer Maxim Gorky, during which time he published a horror story called “The Cave.” He was arrested by Soviet authorities again in 1919 and 1922. We, which is regarded as his most famous work, was written between 1920 and 1921. In 1931, Zamyatin appealed to Stalin to leave the Soviet Union, as his position as a writer put him at heightened risk of political persecution. Stalin approved Zamyatin’s request, and he and his wife moved to Paris. While in Paris, Zamyatin collaborated with director Jean Renoir on his 1963 adaption of Gorky’s The Lower Depths, which Zamyatin co-wrote. Zamyatin died in poverty in 1937.