Yevgeny Zamyatin — We [1237]

Gradually, like a photographic image in the developer, her face emerged: her cheeks, the white line of her teeth, her lips. She rose, went over to the mirrored closet door. — Yevgeny Zamyatin, We, 1237

Note

The photographic simile brilliantly literalizes the tension of a face returning from shock into recognition, matching the character’s internal laboratory-like precision of observation.