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[RED ARMY PROSE] Ya khochu zhyty. Opovidannia [I want to live. Stories]

A[leksandr] Nevierov [pseud., Skobelev] (auth.), M. Shcherbak (transl.)

Item #2621

Kharkiv: Persha Drukarnia Derzhavnoho Vydavnytstva Ukrainy for DVU, 1929. 56 pp, [4]. 17,5 x 13 cm. Illustrated publisher’s wrapper. One of 5000 copies. In Ukrainian. Overall in very good condition, spine is restored.

Front wrapper by E[vhen] Miei (May) depicts a soldier struggling to move through a snowstorm. Miei is known for some distinctive avant-garde cover designs from late 1920s and early 1930s; this one, however, is more realistic, yet stylish. It sets a dark and desperate mood with a hint of hope for the story’s protagonist.

Aleksandr Nevierov (1883—1923, pseud. Skobelev) was a Russian writer remaining somewhat obscure save for his novel Tashkent — gorod xlebny`j that was exceptionally popular in the USSR due to it’s focus on hunger in the USSR. Neverov was born into modest circumstances, understood and depicted the struggle of the lower class, thus was welcomed by the new government. For a period, his work was popular and ignited genuine interest among the readers who felt Nevierov’s compassion expressed in the text. The present collection commences with a foreword] that emphasizes Nevierov’s affiliation with the Red Army. Four short stories follow: titular Ya khochu zhyty [I Want to Live], Chervonoarmiiets Terokhin [Teryokhin, the Red Army Soldier], Marusia-Bilshovychka (Marusya the Bolshevik Girl] and Ynshoi dorohy nema [There is no other way]. They are mostly focused on collectivism, self-sacrifice and armed fighting ideals. So it is understandable that those were translated into Ukrainian and spread across the recently established republic. Closing the free-spirited decade of 1920’s, such translations foreshadowed a turn to a more ideologically controlled approach to the thematic diversity of the books published. Yet Nevierov stories still were coming from the place of love and managed to present nuanced psychological detail of over-enthusiastic welcome of the new regiment and moral dilemmas faced by Soviet system wheelcogs, ordinary people — similar to classics like A. Platonov and M. Sholokhov.

Rare outside Ukraine. Not in WorldCat, not in KVK.

Price: $650.00