Notes of a Snub-Nosed Mephistopheles Записки Кирпатого Мефістофеля

An adaptation, not the original text. It is MovaReader’s own retelling in simple modern Ukrainian of Volodymyr Vynnychenko’s novel Записки Кирпатого Мефістофеля (Notes of a Snub-Nosed Mephistopheles), first published in 1917. The plot follows the undated Kyiv-Leipzig edition of Ukrainska Nakladnia (1920s) on Wikisource, the same text as the complete novel in this catalogue at C1. What changed: about 73,000 words shrink to about 6,900 in 14 chapters with titles; Yakiv’s long reflections on morality, marriage and youth are cut to a few lines; the Dnipro steamer trip and several street scenes are dropped; most dialogue becomes reported speech; and the 1920s spelling, the Russian quotations and a yard porter’s half-Russian speech give way to standard modern Ukrainian. The diary keeps its first person and its present tense, and the events keep their order to the last chapter. The love scenes are told in a sentence and without detail, and the darkest scene near the end is told briefly. A few ethnic labels the narrator uses for people’s looks are left out.

No, there is no audio version of this book on MovaReader; the text is read on screen. Tap an unfamiliar word and its translation appears: here that will often be words of old Kyiv, such as візник (a cab driver) or двірник (a yard porter), and descriptive words like пласкуватий (flattish, said of Yakiv’s nose) or кватирка (the small opening pane in a winter window, the title of the last chapter).

Yes: whole-sentence translation comes with the Reader plan. Most sentences read well word by word, so you will want it mostly for Yakiv’s verdicts on himself, such as Я хочу зробити добро, але скоро мені стає нудно, і з цього добра виходить зло, “I want to do good, but soon I get bored, and evil comes out of that good”, from chapter VI. Without the plan you can still tap single words.

One to two hours for the whole book, at a learner’s pace with translation of new words, not a native speaker’s. The 14 chapters run from about 330 words (chapter IX, «Крим») to about 650 (chapter I, «Кирпатий Мефістофель»), so each one fits into a short sitting.

It is even. Sentences stay between about 10 and 13 words in every chapter, from 9.7 in chapter VII, «Чий Андрійко?», where Yakiv questions Sonia in short lines, to 12.8 in chapter XII, «Шапочка судить», with its argument about honesty. No chapter is markedly harder than the rest, so you can start anywhere the contents take you.

Yes. After you sign in, the reader remembers where you stopped and which words you opened. The contents on this page also open any of the 14 chapters directly, for example chapter X, «Ніч біля чужого дому».