The author detects a kind of evolution of the writer`s view of the national character which is basically full of conflicts and extraterrestrial passions. The three works are seen to have similar types of main characters, their disposition and way of life, and be marked by the national poetics. The article observes the writer`s biased attitude towards the provinces, their life and manners and Russian ethnography. The structure of the short story 'Yola', portraying the human lot, has a cyclic organization (Yola`s birth-Yola, the bride-Yola, the ark of death). E. Zamiatin`s creative search is analysed in the context of the Russian philosophy of the early part of this century.