Anthem

"Anthem" is a dystopian fiction novella by Ayn Rand, written in 1937 and first published in 1938 in England. It takes place at some unspecified future date when mankind has entered another dark age characterized by irrationality, collectivism, and socialistic thinking and economics. Technological advancement is now carefully planned (when it is allowed to occur at all) and the concept of individuality has been eliminated (the use of the word "I" or "Ego" is punishable by death).

He lived in the dark ages of the future. In a loveless world he dared to love the woman of his choice. In an age that had lost all trace of science and civilization he had the courage to seek and find knowledge. But these were not the crime for which he would be hunted. He was marked for death because he had committed the unpardonable sin: he had stood forth from the mindless human herd. He was a man alone.

Ayn Rand's classic tale of a future dark age of the great "We" -- in which individuals have no name, no independence, and no values -- anticipates her later masterpieces, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.