Zamyatin – Magic Numbers

Crystal City

By MN | 7 January 2014

This essay looks at two conflicts which emerged in my reading of We, Zamyatin’s dystopia and a precursor of 1984 and Brave New World. First, I examine the tension between contentment and freedom, a dilemma which quickly emerges upon entering Zamyatin’s nightmarish paradise of OneState. I then look at the question of the slavishly rationalist OneState…

The Totalitarian Airport

By MN | 26 August 2013

When airports are excused from democratic and civil norms, they take on many of the characteristics of a police state. With dystopian aesthetics and ostentatious security checks, the airport provides a space for us to examine our political fears, but may also pose a threat to civil liberty beyond its walls. Early on Monday morning…