Kevin's Watch

WARNING THIS MIGHT SHOCK YOU!

Not trying to be a smart you-know-what, but "1984" is for the most part a copy of a story first published in 1921. Seriously.
Not only that, the original is hailed as "the best single work of SF yet written" I would like to encourage everybody to read this story, as it will only add to the experience of reading "1984"

It is called "We" (the english translation, in russian the title is "My") and was written by Yevgeny Zamyatin.
The author wrote the book in the time of, and in protest against, the communist revolution led by Josef Stalin and it's goal of a perfect, unified state. The impact of telling the story on the radio was enough to have Zamyatin exiled and the story suppressed. It was only first published in Russia, and in russian, in 1988, more than sixty years after it was written!
I know of at least 3 different translations you can buy at Amazon and have delivered within a week, so this is not some dead story you can only import at a huge rate or find in an obscure bookhouse. It cost me $ 13...

The story is set in 2500 or there about and tells the story of D-503, a spaceship designer, one of the ten million Numbers living in OneState, and his love affair with a woman, I-330, who wants to start a revolution in OneState.
Their "Big Brother" is called "The Benefactor" and he uses people to spy, not telescreens. They have a huge glass wall around their clean cities and they live by The Table wich tells them when they have to do what and they are almost happy. Almost...

The biggest differences between "We" and "1984" are that Orwell was able to turn the idea's and the main characters of the original into something that was a distinct possible future, and the fact that he turned "1984" into a future that lacked the beauty, elegance and comfort portraid in "We".
In short, Zamyatin created an idea and Orwell put it in it's best setting.
In addition to this I must say that no matter how much I was disturbed by "1984" and it's dark, cruel world, it is not as well written as "We"
The original is better composed, the characters are more alive and the language is at times pure poetry. It is not limited to the themes in "1984"
but also handles themes proposed in "Brave New World" by Aldeous Huxley. It speaks of writing, love, art, economy and clear blue skies as easily as it does of revolution, mathematics and sharp white theeth.

I love both these stories and have read both books often and they can live without doing injustice to each other, so please, read and feel the original horror of distopia in "We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin.