“Notes of a Pug-nosed Mephistopheles” by Volodymyr Vynnychenko

I am a little bit behind on my book reviews here but with the baby early in bed, here comes another one – “Notes of a Pug-Nosed Mephistopheles” by Volodymyr Vynnychenko. I read this novel in Ukrainian and I am sure the English version of it exists, but I just absolutely loved the writing style and the flow of the language in the original.

“Notes of a Pug-Nosed Mephistopheles” by Volodymyr Vynnychenko is a novel with the main character who is a lawyer. It is written around the 1920s and takes place in Kyiv. The lawyer, Yakiv, is fairly well-off and lives his life manipulating people and playing with their lives as if they were toys. He does not cross the lines of committing a crime but he does not live by the laws of morality either. When he meets Klavdia, a semi-divorced woman with a child, he considers dating her as entertainment. As he gets bored, they part their ways and Yakiv falls in love with someone for the first time. He is on the way to marry the girl that we know from the book as “A girl in a white hat” until he discovers that Klavdia has birthed his child. Now torn between duty and love, he is the one who does not feel in control of his life anymore.

Although the storyline seems quite trivial, keep in mind that it was 1920s so it is really not for those times. I loved the pictures of Kyiv that Vynnychenko created – free people during the beautiful spring times. Nothing really beats spring in Kyiv. It is one of these constants in my mind – I can close my eyes and transport myself right there to the spring in Kyiv and feel young and hopeful and like anything is possible. I know exactly how the air would feel and trees would smell. I found that Vynnychenko captures these images beautifully and they created a perfect background to the unfolding romantic perturbations (also yes, before the USSR came along and made all people believe that everyone needs to be the same and follow the party rules, Ukraine was an independent republic with free, democratic people!).

I already mentioned before, but I absolutely loved the writing and the language. I will leave a few of my favorite quotes below, although they are in Ukrainian:

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Весна – паскудний час, неспокійний, розхрістаний, безглуздий.

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Сім’ю не можна зруйнувати збоку. Вона засвіди розпадається зсередини.

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Найпевніща ознака самотніх та, що вони нічого й нікого не люблять. І коли я слухаю людей, що жаліються на самотність і запевняють, що вони люблять, я думаю про себе: бідолахо, тобі для чогось хочеться переконати мене, що в тебе в гаманці одночасно порожнеча й цілі скарби.

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Боже, як мало людині треба, щоб вона була щаслива! І яке більше щастя є від того, коли стоїш на березі такого вуличного струмочка в розстібнутім пальті; стоїш, прижмуривши очі, не рухаючись, щоб не струсити з грудей соняшного, прилиплого тепла; слухаючи бо-зна що в собі й вірячи, що жити страшенно гарно, потрібно, радісно.

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Закоханий у Київ, я блукаю по зелених кучерявих, шопотливих вулицях його. Милий, тихий, задумливий красунь! Каштани обсипають рудявим цвітом дахи вагонів трамваю. Нема ніде такого життя в лініях вулиць, як у його. Ніде нема такої ласкавої чепурности, природної охайности, грайливости! Він подібний до велики гарного звіря, який бо-зна коли слідкує за собою.

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I would give so much to walk the streets of Kyiv that the author is talking about. In reality though, we must remember that the war goes on.