Mess-Mend
Mess-Mend: Yankees in Petrograd (Russian: Месс-Менд, или Янки в Петрограде) is a Soviet adventure novel by Marietta Shaginyan with elements of fantasy and mystery. It was first serialized as a pseudotranslation under the pen name Jim Dollar in ten weekly installments published akin to dime novels by Gosizdat during March and April 1924, illustrated by Alexander Rodchenko.[1][2] The novel is about the struggle of the international clandestine workers' organization Mess-Mend against the international capitalist conspiracy. Its dynamic, entertaining style made it very popular in the Soviet Union.
Mess-Mend had two sequels, also under the pen name Jim Dollar: Lori Len Metallist [Laurie Lane, Metalworker]. Moscow: Gosizdat, 1924; and Месс-Менд, или Международный вагон [Mess-Mend, or International Train Car], first serialized in the evening supplement to Red Newspaper in October-December 2025, later retitled as Doroga v Bagdad [The Road to Baghdad].
In 1926, on an occasion of the release of Miss Mend, a Soviet film loosely based on the novel, Shaginyan published a short brochure "How I wrote Mess-Mend".[3]
In 1956 Shaginyan published a reworked version of the book described as "novel-fairytale" in Detgiz publishing house, which included "How I wrote Mess-Mend".
German translation: Mess Mend oder Die Yankees in Leningrad, 1987.
English translation by Samuel Cioran, Ann Arbor: Ardis, 1991.[4]
References
[edit]- ↑ Greta Matzner-Gore, A Copy of a Copy (of a Copy): The Search for Authenticity in "Mess-Mend and The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks"
- ↑ Месс-Менд, или «Янки в Петрограде» Мариэтты Шагинян
- ↑ Marietta Shaginyan Kak i︠a︡ pisala Mess-Mend: k postanovke "Miss-Mend" "Mezhrabprom Rusʹ"
- ↑ Mike Thingsmaster, the All-American Bolshevik, Mess-Mend 1991 translation book review, The New York Times, August 18, 1991
Further reading
[edit]- Maria Malikova, Халтуроведение: советский псевдопереводной роман периода НЭПа, НЛО, no. 3, 2010