Yevgeny Zamyatin — We [1268]

And suddenly, with lightning, shameless clarity, I knew: he—he was also one of them. … And all of me, all of my pain, all that, in utter exhaustion, with a final effort, I had brought here, as if performing a great feat—all this was merely as ridiculous as the ancient anecdote about Abraham and Isaac. Abraham—in a cold sweat—has already lifted the knife over his son, over himself—when suddenly there is a voice from above: “Don’t bother! I was only joking. …” — Yevgeny Zamyatin, We, 1268

Note

Brilliant deflation of dramatic tragedy into cosmic farce through the sudden, bitter deployment of a Biblical analogy.