Scorched Earth

Born in Krivoy Rog [Kryvyi Rih], Ukraine, Mark Egart (pseudonym of Mordechai Moiseevich Boguslavskii) was a writer of fiction and nonfiction in the Russian language. Egart joined the Zionist youth group He-Ḥaluts at an early age and trained with them in Poland before moving to Palestine in 1923. Overcome by illness, hunger, and the dire economic situation of Jewish life there, as well as by ongoing conflicts with the local Arab population, Egart returned to the Soviet Union three years later. There he established himself as writer, joining the Moscow-based proletarian group Vagranka. His most significant work of this period was the autobiographical novel about young Jewish settlers in Palestine, entitled Opalennaia zemlia (Scorched Earth). He also produced sketches, novels, and other works on topics such as collectivization and the everyday lives of Soviet workers, and held various positions in the Soviet literary establishment. After serving in the Red Army, Egart spent the postwar period writing books for young adults.