We

by Yevgeny Zamyatin

The syntactical pacing and pulsing in both the Russian and this translation may seem strange at first, until you surrender to Zamyatin’s “language of thought.” In his essay “On Language” (1919–20), Zamyatin explained: “[I]f you try to follow the language of thought in your own mind, you will not find even the simplest sentences— only shreds, fragments of simple sentences. Only the most essential elements of a sentence are used: sometimes only a verb or only an epithet, an object . . . At first glance this assertion may seem paradoxical: why should fragments of sentences, scattered as after an explosion, have greater effect on the reader than the same thoughts and images arranged in regular, steady, marching ranks? . . . [because] you meet the reader’s natural instinctive need. You do not compel him to skim . . .”