The novel We (Russian: Мы, romanized: My) by Russian writer Yevgeny Zamyatin, written 1920–1921.
Like all other citizens of One State, D-503 lives in a glass apartment
building and is carefully watched by the secret police, or Bureau of
Guardians. D-503's lover, O-90, has been assigned by One State to
visit him on certain nights. She is considered too short to bear
children and is deeply grieved by her state in life. O-90's other
lover and D-503's best friend is R-13, a State poet who reads his
verse at public executions.
While on an assigned walk with O-90, D-503 meets a woman named I-330.
I-330 smokes cigarettes, drinks alcohol, and shamelessly flirts with
D-503 instead of applying for an impersonal sex visit; all of these
are highly illegal according to the laws of One State.
Both repelled and fascinated, D-503 struggles to overcome his
attraction to I-330. She invites him to visit the Ancient House,
notable for being the only opaque building in One State, except for
windows. Objects of aesthetic and historical importance dug up from
around the city are stored there. There, I-330 offers him the services
of a corrupt doctor to explain his absence from work. Leaving in
horror, D-503 vows to denounce her to the Bureau of Guardians, but
finds that he cannot.
He begins to have dreams, which disturbs him, as dreams are thought to
be a symptom of mental illness. Slowly, I-330 reveals to D-503 that
she is involved with the Mephi, an organization plotting to bring down
the One State. She takes him through secret tunnels inside the Ancient
House to the world outside the Green Wall, which surrounds the
city-state. There, D-503 meets the inhabitants of the outside world:
humans whose bodies are covered with animal fur. The aims of the Mephi
are to destroy the Green Wall and reunite the citizens of One State
with the outside world.
