Yevgeny Zamyatin β early 20th-century Russian writer, author of We and The Islanders, a precursor of dystopian fiction. A naval engineer by training, he blended technology with literature. His major novel was banned in the USSR but inspired Orwell and Huxley.
βοΈ Zamyatin trained as a naval engineer and worked at British shipyards. π His novel We is regarded as the first major dystopia of the 20th century. π« The book was banned in the USSR for over 60 years, published there only in 1988. π In exile, he lived in Paris, keeping ties with Gorky and Bunin. ποΈ He openly opposed censorship, even writing letters to Stalin. π George Orwell admitted that 1984 owed much to We. π Zamyatin also wrote plays, but they were rarely staged in the Soviet Union. π³οΈ He designed icebreakers, one of which was named Svyatogor. βοΈ His style was rich in satire and grotesque, provoking debates even before We. π° He contributed to the journal Novy Mir until removed. π² Curious: in Britain he was once mistakenly suspected of being a βRussian spy.β π Funny: he joked that the engineer in him was always arguing with the writer.