Yevgeny Zamyatin — We [609]

I envisage this Zero as an enormous, silent, narrow, knife-sharp crag. In fierce, shaggy darkness, holding our breath, we set out from the black night side of Zero Crag. For ages we, the Colum-buses, have sailed and sailed; we have circled the entire earth. And, at long last, hurrah! The burst of a salute, and everyone aloft the masts: before us is a different, hitherto unknown side of Zero Crag, illumined by the northern lights of the One State— a pale blue mass, sparks, rainbows, suns, hundreds of suns, billions of rainbows… — Yevgeny Zamyatin, We, 609

Note

The surreal, monumental vision of the Zero Crag that conflates exploration, mathematical abstraction, and totalitarian state worship.