Single story America

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

One-storey America ( Russian Одноэтажная Америка , scientific transliteration Odnoėtažnaja America ) is the title of a travel diary published in 1936 in the Soviet Union about a 10-week drive by two Soviet citizens in a Ford through the United States of America . The authors were the successful authors and satirists Ilya Ilf (1897-1937) and Evgeni Petrow (1903-1942), also known as the popular comedian-author duo Ilf and Petrow , who are famous in the Soviet Union .

The book

The book, which is divided into eleven chapters and held in the uninhibited humorous style typical of Ilf and Petrow, paints a differentiated picture of the USA. America's entrepreneurial skills and economic achievements are praised, the oppression of blacks, the lives of Indians on the reservations, and the oppression of the workers are denounced.

The photos in the book were taken by Ilf with his Leica . The style of his snapshots is reminiscent of the photographic style of Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans , who took photos on behalf of the Farm Security Administration . The photos show u. a. remote country roads or traffic signs from the time of the Great Depression .

The first thing that was published in 1936 after the trip was an eleven-part photo report entitled "American Photographs" (Russian: "Американские фотографии", transcription: "Amerikanskie fotografii") in the popular Soviet magazine Ogonjok . Shortly thereafter, in the summer of 1937, the book "Eineschossiges Amerika" followed , the travelogue that the authors wrote down in the summer of 1936. The book title refers to her impression that the cities of America consist mainly of one- and two-story buildings, in complete contrast to the popular image of America as the land of skyscrapers:

" America is mostly one- and two-story buildings. The majority of Americans live in small towns of 3,000, maybe 5, 9, or 10,000 people. "

The "single storey" has also been interpreted as a metaphor for the one-dimensionality of the country: In America everything revolves around money and wealth, while the country has neither soul nor spirit. The first edition of the book was published without Ilf's photographs, the reasons for this are unknown.

Ilf and Petrow's travelogue was criticized in the Soviet Union for not being partisan enough and for praising many aspects of American life. He was too empathetic and positive instead of following the official party line of clear black and white painting . It is noteworthy that the book was able to appear at all during the time of the Great Terror (1936–1938) and the general climate of fear associated with it.

The English translation of the book was published under the title "Little Golden America" instead of the literal translation Single-Storied America . That was a reference to the previous novel of the duo: The Golden Calf (Engl. The Little Golden Calf ).

The United States, perceived as the land of machines and technical progress, was of great importance to the Soviet Union at that time, which had set itself the goal of catching up with and overtaking the United States. This slogan (Russian: догнать и перегнать Америку; German: catch up with America and overtake) was one of the most important slogans during the ambitious industrialization of the Soviet Union .

America, the land of seemingly unlimited possibilities, should serve as a model for the Soviet people to show that the Soviet workers and engineers - within the framework given by the Soviet system - also had unlimited possibilities.

content

On October 7, 1935, a few years after the start of the Great Depression (1929 to approx. 1933), the writers Ilf and Petrow arrived in New York on the Normandy liner . The most modern ship at the time made its tenth voyage between Europe and America. Ilf and Petrow, who spoke no English, had been sent to America as special correspondents for Pravda to discover America and the Americans and to tell the truth about America for the Soviet people in a ten-week journey by car, to study it and their people bring closer. Ilf and Petrow did not know America, for them it was more like a romantic area overseas. They felt like the first explorers of America, but of course they could not shed their ideological stereotypes as Pravda correspondents. Because of their lack of knowledge of English, they sometimes took the help of Russian-speaking tour guides.

" Our journey started with a little mishap. We had planned to explore New York, observe and let ourselves be influenced. But New York is not a city where people moved slowly. Instead of taking a leisurely walk, they ran to us We passed us. And we also started to run until we couldn't stop ourselves. ... We wanted to get to know the real America and the Americans. How do they work and how do they relax? We wanted to find out: How do they live? What do you hope? What are you eating? "

In 1935/36 the three-month journey took her in 60 stages across the continent to the west coast and along the Mexican border and the east coast to the north, via Washington, DC back to New York. The journey led from New York via Chicago , via a southern arc through Missouri and the southwest to San Francisco and back via Texas , the Gulf of Mexico , along the east coast to Washington and back to the starting point New York.

They chatted with people whenever possible and were especially amazed at the lack of curiosity of people who didn't want to know anything about the Soviet Union.

They spent two weeks in Hollywood writing a screenplay for Lewis Milestone .

The chapters of her books were devoted to the individual travel sections. At the same time, however, also a special topic: streets, small towns, Indians , Hollywood , advertising, African American .

Ilf died of tuberculosis soon after his return (April 1937) while the book was going to press. The first signs of his tuberculosis made themselves felt during the trip to America.

German book editions

  • The single story America. A travel story. Translator Helmut Ettinger. Eichborn Verlag, Frankfurt 2011, ISBN 978-3-8218-6239-2 .

filming

Vladimir Posner

The First Channel of Russian television has a 16-part 2008 according to the motives of the book of the same documentary - TV show filmed (directed by Valery Spirin ). The aim was not to film the book, but to show the viewers what America is today.

The two journalists Wladimir Posner (Russian Владимир Познер), who grew up in the USA, and the younger Iwan Urgant (Russian Иван Ургант) followed the route described in the book (with a few variations, e.g. a detour to Las Vegas ) and conducted interviews with locals. In a sense, you shot a remake of the trip almost 75 years ago.

The two were accompanied by the American writer and radio journalist Brian Kahn from Montana. The series mixes excerpts and old photos from the book with current images from the same places. The film compares the impressions of the book authors with today's impressions of the film authors. This makes it not only a remake, but also a continuation of the book.

Urgant slips into the role of Petrow and Posner plays the role of Ilf. However, in contrast to Ilf, Posner speaks perfect English, so that he was able to take on the role of tour guide. Urgant played the role of the newcomer, although he had actually lived in the USA for some time, and Posner is the sentimental traveler. Far more Americans are interviewed in the film than in the book.

The film crew (twelve people) and the two commentators traveled 17,000 km through America, through 25 states and 50 cities in 52 days. The route led from New York via: Cleveland , Detroit , Peoria , Colorado Springs , Gallup , the Grand Canyon , Las Vegas , San Francisco , Los Angeles , El Paso , Houston , New Orleans , Memphis , Washington, DC back to New York.

In each episode, one or two cities are presented, their sights and the peculiarities of the lifestyle of the local population, with whom interviews are also conducted. The aim is to show the way of life of a normal, average American and the peculiarities of the American character. And America from the time of Ilf and Petrow should be compared with today's time.

The first broadcast began on February 11, 2008. One episode was shown weekly.

First episode

They began their journey, like Ilf and Petrow, in New York. It was filmed in the city for six days ( Times Square , Broadway , Majestic Musical Theater , Empire State Building , Statue of Liberty , Ellis Island , Greenwich Village , Harlem , SoHo and a helicopter tour over Manhattan ). Posner talks about his childhood in Greenwich Village. New York is portrayed as pathetic, sentimental and ironic.

consequences

episode Date of the Russian premiere scene of action Main theme
01 February 11, 2008 New York City
02 February 18, 2008 New York State

Cleveland , Ohio State ( Cleveland Clinic )

United States Health System
03 February 26, 2008 Detroit , Michigan State ( Michigan Ford Works ) Immigrants to the United States
04 March 3, 2008 Chicago , State of Illinois Healthy Lifestyle and Obesity in the United States
05 March 11, 2008 Route 66

Peoria , Illinois
Oklahoma City (59th Highway Patrol Academy in Oklahoma)

The highway patrol in the United States
06 March 17, 2008 Gallup , New Mexico State Indian life in the United States
07 March 24, 2008 Colorado Springs , State of Colorado ( United States Air Force Academy )

Grand Canyon ( State of Arizona )

08 March 31, 2008 Las Vegas
09 April 21, 2008 San Francisco , Silicon Valley
10 April 7, 2008 los Angeles American cinema
11 April 14, 2008 Sun City , State of Arizona

El Paso , State of Texas

12 April 28, 2008 New Orleans , State of Louisiana
13 May 4, 2008 Angola State Prison Prisons in the United States
14th May 12, 2008 Memphis , Tennessee (St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee)

Norfolk, Virginia , State of Virginia ( Norfolk Naval Base )

15th May 19, 2008 Washington, DC The Situation of African Americans and Racism in the United States
16 May 26, 2008 New York City

Return visit

Lew Kuleschow wrote the silent film grotesque and slapstick comedy " The strange adventures of Mr. West in the land of the Bolsheviks " as early as 1924 . (Russian "Необычайные приключения мистера Веста в стране большевиков", transcription: "Neobytschainie prikljutschenija mistera Westa w strane Bolshevikov turned. It describes an American's visit to Russia. That was, so to speak, the counterpart of Ilf and Petrow's trip.

literature

  • Илья Ильф, Евгений Петров: Одноэтажная Америка. РГБ, Москва 2007, ISBN 978-5-7516-0630-5 , (Russian edition).
  • Erika Wolf (Ed.): Ilf and Petrov's American Road Trip. The 1935 Travelogue of Two Soviet Writers . Translated by Anne O. Fisher. Cabinet Books et al. a., New York et al. 2007, ISBN 978-1-56898-600-5 , (English edition).

Web links