This is a psychological novel, written in 1916, just a year before the February revolution by , who in a year will become the first PM of independent Ukraine. This reminds me of comics by , where Luther (arch-enemy of Superman, who is the good guy in this what-if story) created a government led by poets 鈥� we were there in 1917-8, with writers, historians and theater critics on major posts. It doesn鈥檛 end well.
The English title is Notes of a Pug-Nosed Mephistopheles and it is a semi-autobiographic story of a former revolutionary (of 1905-7 revolution) turned average but well-off lawyer bachelor. He is a nihilist and cynic, trying to manipulate other people, seduce them to less than ideal behavior, from proposing a job to another former revolutionary, who just returned from Siberia, which asked to persuade a witness to give 鈥榗orrect鈥� statements to suggesting to another friend to kidnap friend鈥檚 own son to force his wife to sign a divorce. His another 鈥榙emonic鈥� feature that put a Mephistopheles nickname on him is his romances with women 鈥� he is tall, good-looking and well-dressed and in questions of love he is honestly cynical: on one hand he stresses men鈥檚 sexual needs and that women鈥檚 virginity as a virtue put by society, but when one of his par amor gets pregnant it鈥檚 her problems. He stalks another woman, who initially avoids his advances鈥�
The story is honest in opening far to a person's inner world, a soul of the protagonist, who can commit awful things just to make his own life less linked to others. Strong stuff, slightly reminding me of the late 19th French writers.
I'll quote Marta Tarnawsky here, for those who has read the T. Prokopov's translation:
Despite his noble effort, Prokopov鈥檚 translations leave much to be desired. He takes considerable liberties with the author鈥檚 text, abbreviates whole scenes (for example, pp.40-1, 47, 66, 74-5, 83, 131 in Mephistopheles), and changes the names of Vynnychenko鈥檚 protagonists (for example, Karachapov becomes Shakhrai, Danylo Nedotorkany is Daniel Panasenko, Dmytro is Dimitri, and Sydir Samzharenko is Sidor Samarenko). The spelling of some well-known names is neither Ukrainian nor the prevalent English version: Khmelnytsky becomes Khmelnitski, and Chaikovsky, the composer, becomes Tshaikowski rather than the well-established Tschaikovsky. In some cases the translator embellishes names: Volodymyrska hirka for some reason becomes 鈥淰olodymyr鈥檚 Horka (hill)鈥� instead of being simply Volodymyr鈥檚 Hill. What is more important, however, is the quality of the translation. 鈥淒lia choho ty vtyssia do nas鈥� is rendered as 鈥淲hy did you squeeze yourself to us鈥� (Mephistopheles, p.10); 鈥淰chynyti steryku鈥� becomes 鈥渢o make a great hysteria鈥� (p.58); 鈥淚 zrazu obkhopliuie radist. Tak vlasne, tse bula molodist鈥� is translated as 鈥淚mmediately I am embraced with yes, that was my youth鈥� (p.36); 鈥渟ympatychnyi鈥� becomes 鈥渟ympathetic鈥� (p.152); 鈥減retensii鈥� (demands) is translated as 鈥減retensions鈥� (pp.144-5), and the text is full of such phrases as 鈥渢aking care about the family,鈥� 鈥渢his is completely not possible,鈥� 鈥渨e compose ourselves,鈥� 鈥淚 know this a long time ago,鈥� 鈥淲e never had much conversations,鈥� and 鈥渢he eyes screw up and she all strangely shines.鈥�