[Quiet Man Cometh]

I see your Brave New World and raise you

12. We - Yevgeny Zamyatin

Brave New World's piecemeal predecessor, We was written by Zamyatin around the 1920's but it was published in pieces by a press in Chechnya as Bolshevik Russia wasn't all that fond of it. Zamyatin himself was exiled multiple times from Russia, if memory serves. I think it was around 1960 before the book saw print in its full form.

Society is now modeled after machines, with people physically separated from nature following mass genocide that killed 97.8% of the population, I think. We is a document written by "D503," a character in charge of building a space faring vessel that will bring their civilization to other planets. The intention behind the document it to praise the system and show others why their world order is ideal. The writing style is a little odd, with half finished sentences here and there. I can't help but find the "reasoning" behind how this society works to be understandable, creepy, weird, and sinister. It's definitely an unusual book.