Shketan, M

Shketan, M 

(also Iakov Pavlovich Maiorov). Born Oct. 17 (29), 1898, in what is now the M. Shketan Kolkhoz, Orshanka Raion, Mari ASSR; died there May 16,1937. Soviet Mari writer.

The son of a peasant, Shketan returned to his native village in 1929 and took part in the construction of a kolkhoz. He was first published in 1923. In such plays as Hey, Parents! (1928) and An Aftertaste of Dregs (1932), Shketan vividly portrayed the search of the Mari working people for a path to a new life. He also wrote short stories (including humorous stories), literary sketches, and publicist articles. Shketan’s principal work was the novel Erenger (1933), which depicts the socialist reconstruction of the Mari countryside.

WORKS

Roman, p’esa, oilymash, ocherk da stat’ia-vlak, vols. 1–4. Ioshkar-Ola, 1962.
M. Shketanyn publitsistikyzhe. Ioshkar-Ola, 1966.
In Russian translation:
Zhizn’ zovet: Rasskazy. Ioshkar-Ola, 1955.
Erenger: Roman, rasskazy. Moscow, 1971.

REFERENCES

Chernykh, S. Tvorcheskiiput’ M. Shketana. Ioshkar-Ola, 1969.
Aleksandrov, A., G. Bespalova, and K. Vasin. Pisateli Mariiskoi ASSR: Biobibliograficheskii spravochnik. Ioshkar-Ola, 1976.