Maik (Mykhailo) Hervasiiovych Yohansen or Mike Johansen (; pseudonyms Villi Vetselius

illy Wetzelius Illycaffè S.p.A. (branded and stylised as illy) is an Italian coffee company specializing in espresso, headquartered in Trieste. Illy markets its coffee globally in silver and red pressurized, oxygen-free cans; operates a network of cafes on sh ...

and M. Kramar; 16 October 1895,

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

– 27 October 1937,

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

) – was a Ukrainian poet, prose writer, dramatist, translator, critic and linguist. He was one of the founders of VAPLITE.

Biography

Maik Yohansen was born on 16 October 1895 in

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

. His father, a

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

n emigrant, was a teacher of German, and made sure his son had a proper education. Maik Yohansen received his secondary education at the Kharkiv Third Gymnasium. There he studied along with Hryhoriy Petnikov and Bohdan Hordeev (pseudo: Bozhydar), who later became well-known poet-futurists, as well as with Yuriy Platonov, a geographer and prose writer. Afterwards, Maik Yohansen studied at the

Kharkiv University The V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University (), also known as Kharkiv National University or Karazin University, is a public university in Kharkiv, Ukraine. It was founded in 1804 through the efforts of Vasily Karazin, becoming the second old ...

, which he successfully graduated in 1917, specialising in Latin. At Kharkiv University Maik Yohansen's linguistics lecturers included Leonid Bulakhovskyi and Oleksa Syniavskyi. Later, Maik Yohansen mentioned the name of Oleksa Syniavskyi in his famous novel ''Doctor Leonardo's Travels through the Switzerland of Slobidska Ukraine'' (‘Podorozh doktora Leonardo po Slobozhans’kii Shvaitsariï’, 1928):

That same evening Don Jose Pereira booked train tickets for himself and Rodolfo. The next morning, he was lucky to find at Barcelona market Syniavsky's Grammar. He did not part with it until he reached the steppes. He enjoyed the sounds of the Ukrainian language great deal.

Maik Yohansen also collaborated with the following well-known Ukrainians: Mykola Khvyliovyi, Ostap Vyshnia, Yuriy Tiutiunnyk and Volodymyr Sosiura. In 1925 Maik Yohannsen with a group of his colleagues founded VAPLITE. The same year, whom king VAPLITE was forced to dissolve, in January 1928, Maik Yohansen founded Techno-Artistic Group A, which was officially banned in 1930. In 1934 Maik Yohannsen joined the Soviet Writers’ Union of Ukraine. On 18 August 1937 the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

commissars seized Maik Yohansen from his apartment. During his interrogations Yohansen did not hide his political views. Among other things, he accused the

Soviet government The Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was the executive and administrative organ of the highest body of state authority, the All-Union Supreme Soviet. It was formed on 30 December 1922 and abolished on 26 December 199 ...

in targeted persecution of Ukrainian writers and other members of Ukrainian intelligentsia. Maik Yohansen was accused in belonging to a fictitious ‘Ukrainian bourgeois-nationalist terrorist organisation'. The Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

condemned him to death by firing squad. The sentence was carried out on 27 October 1937 in the

prison, Kyiv. The writer’s symbolic grave is located at Lukyanivka Cemetery.

Literary works

At the outset of his literary career Maik Yohansen wrote (especially poetry) mostly in German and Russian. However, since 1919 he began writing only in Ukrainian, having witnessed the brutality of Russian raids in Kharkiv.

Poetry

Depending on the period of the author’s writing career, critics define Maik Yohansen’s poetry as following: romantic, social-national and experimental – ''To the Peak'' (‘D'hori’, 1921), ''Revolution'' (Revoliutsiia’, 1923), ''The Dancing Circle'' (‘Krokoveie kolo, 1923), ''Prologue to the Commune'' (‘Proloh do komuny’, 1924), and ''Works Thus Far'' (‘Dorobok”, 1924); sophisticated – ''The Ash Tree'' (‘Yasen’, 1930); and social-realist – ''Ballads about War and Reconstruction'' (‘Baliady pro viinu i vidbudovu’, 1933).

Prose

As for Maik Yohansen's prose, his works are characterised as masterful and "excellent modern", avant-garde, experimental, “sophisticated literary mystifications” and “modernist transformation”. His most well-known experimental novel is Doctor Leonardo's Travels through the Switzerland of Slobidska Ukraine (‘Podorozh doktora Leonardo po Slobozhans’kii Shvaitsariï’, 1928). 1925 – ''17 Minutes'' (‘17 khvylyn’), short story collection 1925 – ''The Adventures of MacLayston, Harry Rupert, and Others'' (‘Pryhody Mak-Leistona, Harri Ruperta ta inshykh’), novel 1928 – ''Dr. Leonardo’s Journey to Sloboda Switzerland with his Future Lover, the Beautiful Alcesta'' (‘Podorozh doktora Leonardo po Slobozhans’kii Shvaitsariï’), experimental novel 1931 – ''The Life of Hai Serhiievych Shaiba'' (‘Zhyttia Haia Serhiievycha Shaiby’), short story collection 1931 – ''Stories about Michael Parker'' (‘Opovidannia pro Maikla Parkera’), short story collection 1932 – ''The Journey of a Man Wearing a Cap'' (‘Podorozh liudyny pid kepom’), travel sketch 1933 – ''A Trip to Dagestan'' (‘Podorozh u Dagestan’), travel sketch 1936 – ''Kos-Chagil on the Emba River'' (‘Kos-Chahyl na Embi’), travel sketch

Translations

Maik Yohansen knew ancient Greek, Latin, German, French and English. He also had a good knowledge of Scandinavian and a number of Slavic languages. His translations include works of

Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. He was born i ...

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely re ...

and others.

Screenplays

Maik Yohansen authored several scripts for theatrical productions. On several occasions he collaborated with famous Les Kurbas and his Berezil theatre. Some of his most notable works include a Ukrainian adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan's Mikado and: 1927 – screenplay for Oleksander Dovzhenko's silent film '' Zvenyhora''. The film is considered to be a landmark of Ukrainian cinema. Maik Yohansen co-wrote the screenplay with Yuriy Tiutiunnyk.Zvenyhora, 1927
, 2015, Ukrainian Film Club of Columbia University 1929 – adaptation of ''Hello on Frequency 477'' (‘Allo na khvyli 477’), (in collaboration with Mykola Khvyliovyi and Ostap Vyshnia)

Non-Fiction

Maik Yohansen participated in some major projects on

Ukrainian language Ukrainian (, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language, spoken primarily in Ukraine. It is the first language, first (native) language of a large majority of Ukrainians. Written Ukrainian uses the Ukrainian alphabet, a variant of t ...

. He took part in creation of the standardardised Ukrainian orthography, which was officially adopted in 1928 and worked on the Latinisation of Ukrainian. He wrote studies on compiling dictionaries and on phonetics, such as on literary and dialectal Ukrainian pronunciation, particularly in

Shyshaky Shyshaky (; ) is a Populated places in Ukraine#Rural settlements, rural settlement in Poltava Oblast, Ukraine. It was formerly the administrative center of Shyshaky Raion until 2020, but now administrated within Myrhorod Raion. Shyshaky hosts the ...

and

Myrhorod Myrhorod (, ) is a city in Poltava Oblast, central Ukraine. It serves as the Capital city, administrative center of Myrhorod Raion. Myrhorod also hosts the administration of Myrhorod urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. It is locate ...

regions. 1922 – ''Elementary Rules of Versification'' (‘Elementarni zakony versyfikatsiï’) 1926 – ''How to Construct a Short Story'' (‘Iak buduvaty opovidannia’) 1926 – ''Russian-Ukrainian Dictionary'' (in collaboration with Mykola Nakonechnyi, Kostiantyn Nimchynov, and Borys Tkachenko) 1929 – ''Russian-Ukrainian Dictionary of Folk Sayings'' (in collaboration with H. Mlodzinskyi)

References

Bibliography

* Maik Yohansen. ''The Journey of the Learned Doctor Leonardo and his Future Lover, the Beautiful Alceste, to the Switzerland of Slobozhanshchyna''. 2021. {{DEFAULTSORT:Yohansen, Maik Ukrainian male writers National University of Kharkiv alumni 1895 births 1937 deaths Ukrainian avant-garde Ukrainian translators Executed Renaissance Executed writers Translators of William Shakespeare Translators of Edgar Allan Poe Writers from Kharkiv