Parallels in Literature?

[illiriam]

Today I was sitting around at work, when suddenly the Yaldiv's society popped ino my mind, and I made a surprise connection. My first year at college, I read Ayn Rand's Anthem. It is a dysopian novella which has a society similar to the Commorancy (I don't even know if that is even partially spelled right). Basically everyone thinks as a whole, in terms of "us" instead of "I", and individuals are even killed for using (or discovering) he concept of "I."
If anyone else has read it, more recently than three years ago or even less recently, I thought that it would be something interesting to discuss. Or if there are other situations in books where this type of society comes up.

[SpacePen]

One can't help thinking of the Borg from Star Trek (but that is not originally from a book). However, "1984" also comes to mind.

[Ardub]

Funny to stumble across this right now, as I was just thinking about Anthem a few minutes ago, because I'm reading the recent Neal Stephenson book Anathem (which is an invented word that he gives roots in both Anthem and Anathema), and trying to sort out if it's supposed to call Rand's story to mind. Yes, I certainly agree that there's a similarity like you say.

Incidentally, I'm only a few hundred pages into Anathem, but I can already tells it's a Very Good Book that I'd recommend, for anyone who doesn't mind books that you can be "only a few hundred pages into".

[Garrett Fitzgerald]

It is a dysopian novella which has a society similar to the Commorancy (I don't even know if that is even partially spelled right). Basically everyone thinks as a whole, in terms of "us" instead of "I", and individuals are even killed for using (or discovering) he concept of "I."

Actually, the influence I thought I spotted was The Once And Future King, where Merlin turns Wart into an ant to learn about there society. I don't know who did this first (if anyone can really claim that), but it must have been pretty vivid for all these other authors to keep echoing it.