The North and Other Stories

Had it not been for Zamiatine being a contemporary of the Russian Revolution, the way this selection of short stories focuses so heavily on themes such as alienation, the absurd, and the individual's struggle against oppressive forces might seem even stranger.

Icy settings, both physically and emotionally, where the characters face moral dilemmas, hostile environments, and the weight of social conventions.

The short story that gives the book its title, "The North"", is one of isolation and resistance, aridity and unease. The other stories bring us satire, social criticism, and fable.

For Zamiatine, the absurd is a way of denouncing the injustices and dehumanization caused by authoritarian systems. Fragmented, innovative, and deeply human.

I have just read Orlando Figes' "A People's Tragedy". A "monster", supposedly the definitive work on the Russian Revolution. Apart from the details, which serve to carve into the consciousness of the reader its brutality, one learns more about the Soviet Union from literature than from history books. That is why this book (and others) is so important.

Yevgueni Zamiatine (1884–1937, Russia) was a writer and naval engineer. He gave us "We"", the foundation upon which Orwell's "1984"", among other dystopias, was built. A fierce critic of Soviet authoritarianism, he was censored and later forced into exile.