Modern Literati

The trilogy of modern dystopia is commonly known to comprise of 1984 by George Orwell (1949), Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1932), and We by Yevgeny Zamyatin (1921). I have read the first two books a long time ago and would like to complete this dystopian sequel by reading the last one, We. To provide some background, I would like to mention that the book was finished during the Russian Revolution of 1917 which lasted from 1917 to 1923.

This is an unusual choice of book for me. I usually avoid sci-fi, and I am not particularly interested in feminism even though I am a female. However, I always wonder how the world is like with only woman inhabitants and think that a utopia/dystopia about such a society would give me an idea. Therefore, I gave this book a try. The story is about some young women who started to discovering their possession of a supernatural electrical power that can inflict pain or even kill people.

To describe Afghanistan as a country in a persistent “cycle of misery” is not exaggerated. The country is invaded continuously throughout history. Genghis Khan and his Mongol army invaded the country in 1219AD. The Persian Empire in the West and the Sikh Empire in the East posted an enormous threat to the country during the early 19^th century. The British and its allied force continuously inflicted war to the Afghani from 1838 to the early twentieth century. The Russian started a full-scale invasion from 1978 to 1992. Then came the United States and the Northern Alliance until today.

I love war stories. Not that I like war to happen. I am just really curious about the mental state of the people who go through war. I have watched many war documentaries, movies, and have read many memoirs and fictions on the subject. At first mostly on world war II, but then I moved on to the contemporary wars including those in Iraq and Afghanistan. I especially like the documentary “Restrepo” and the BBC produced “Our War.” Both were in Afghanistan.