Sandro of chegem by fazil iskander biography

Increasingly, as the book developed, my inspiration has been the poetry in the life of the people. That is what matters. Every people perceives its own way of life as the greatest one of all. This perception seems to reflect a nation's instinct of self-preservation: Why should I imitate another people's way of life if mine is the greatest?

Hence ethnic prejudice; it is inevitable, for the time being. To pretend that it did not exist would be cowardly and vulgar. Ironic mockery of another people's way of life is the most peaceful form of ethnic prejudice.

Sandro of chegem by fazil iskander biography: Iskander spent decades writing the

That is all I make of it. In portraying that irony, and in speaking ironically about it, I have tried to be true to life and true to the natural principles of equality among nations. Following the traditions of classical Russian literature, which revealed the value of the inner life of the so-called little man, I have attempted to reveal, to the best of my abilities, the significance of the epic existence of the little nation.

In my childhood I caught fleeting glimpses of the patriarchal village life of Abkhazia and fell in love with it forever. Translations [ edit ]. Iskander, Fazil Sandro of Chegem. Translated by Brownsberger, Susan. Vintage Books. The Gospel According to Sandro of Chegem. Analyses [ edit ]. Rayfield, Donald In Cornwell, Neil ed. Reference Guide to Russian Literature.

Beraha, Laura Chegema PhD Dissertation thesis. McGill University. Zholkovsky, Alexander; Schmuck, Laurel The Slavic and East European Journal.

Sandro of chegem by fazil iskander biography: In a series of semi-independent

JSTOR NI Syndication Limited. Iran Daily. The New York Times. Retrieved 24 June The Myth of the Non-Russian. The Moscow Times. August Swarthmore College. Retrieved 23 September July 31, The Express Tribune.

Sandro of chegem by fazil iskander biography: Iskander spent decades writing

Archived from the original on Sharp Alfred Toepfer Stiftung F. Retrieved 29 October Kafkas Vakfi. External links [ edit ]. Sandro has, of course, had numerous adventures and we follow many of these. Indeed, the book opens by telling us that many people have tried to kill him, all, obviously, unsuccessfully. The stories we are initially told about his brushes with death concern his love life.

However, we soon see that he has had brushes with death fighting the Mensheviks for the Bolsheviks. He is not afraid of the Mensheviks nor, indeed, of anyone, and is happy to stand up to them and anyone else opposed to him. We see this even in the pre-Soviet period when the local prince has him hauled in for beating up a security guard who had the temerity to blow a raspberry or, perhaps, fart at him.

Sandro is often in trouble and, on one occasion, he gets off when he is sent to join a dance troupe, as he is a fine dancer. He does so well in the troupe that they entertain Stalin himself. We get to meet Stalin and Beria and, course, Sandro tries a risky dance manoeuvre which he has practised on his own but never before his fellow dancers, which very nearly gets him into trouble but, once again, his charm gets him out of trouble.