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.

Yohansen in 1928
From left to right: Petro Punch , Maik Yohansen, Vasyl Vrazhlyvyi , Hryhoriy Epik . Kharkiv , 1926