We Genre

Science Fiction (Dystopian Literature)

Any story showing the course of future events is science fiction almost by default, and in that sense We is very easy to identify. More precisely, it is an early example of the dystopia story, depicting a future society that is scary or oppressive in some way or another. That can include post-apocalyptic stories in which civilization has been wiped, or totalitarian stories, in which an all-powerful government controls every facet of its citizens' lives. We combines elements of both, with a totalitarian dictatorship arising after the fallout of a civilization-ending war. Apparently, Zamyatin thought that they weren't depressing enough on their own, so he decided to combine them into a super-charged engine of anticipatory dread.