Maik Yohansen

Maik (Mykhailo) Hervasiiovych Yohansen or Mike Johansen[1] (Ukrainian: Майк Гервасійович Йогансен; pseudonyms Villi Vetselius [Willy Wetzelius] and M. Kramar; 16 October 1895, Kharkiv, Ukraine – 27 October 1937, Kyiv, Ukraine) – was a Ukrainian poet, prose writer, dramatist, translator, critic and linguist.

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.

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).

As for Maik Yohansen's prose, his works are characterised as masterful and "excellent modern",[2] avant-garde, experimental, “sophisticated literary mystifications”[3] and “modernist transformation”.

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 Maik Yohansen knew ancient Greek, Latin, German, French and English.

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.

[5] 1929 – adaptation of Hello on Frequency 477 (‘Allo na khvyli 477’), (in collaboration with Mykola Khvyliovyi and Ostap Vyshnia) Maik Yohansen participated in some major projects on Ukrainian language.