Synopsis
Somewhere on the borders of what is now Russia, in the late 9th century A.D., the great kaghan, ruler of the Khazars, summons the three leading scholars of the known world—Christian, Jewish, Moslem—to debate before the court which religion he and his people will adopt. This is the last thing we know about the Khazars, for in the immediate aftermath of this event, the tribe is utterly destroyed, vanishing from history...
In 1689, in the lost lands where the Danube empties into the Black Sea, the Turks and Slavs are engaged in pitched battle. In the fighting, three men come face to face: Avram Brancovich, the noble warlord and litterateur; Yusuf Masudi, the Turkish lute player; and Samuel Cohen, the Jew. Each has (literally) dreamed the existence of the other two and has been tracking them down; at the moment of their encounter, all three die...
Three hundred years later, in 1982 in Istanbul, three scholars (Christian, Jew, Moslem) come together to pool their separately compiled fragmentary information about the lost tribe of the Khazars, once known to have been gathered into a single book of knowledge, The Khazar Dictionary, published in 1691 in an edition of 500 copies. 498 were destroyed by the Inquisition, one was 'consumed' and one, the "Golden Book" (with poisoned inks), survived, deadly to any Unbeliever who ignored the warnings and read more than nine pages. Now, once again at the precise moment when the three scholars may together be able to reconstitute at least part of the dictionary, two of them die...
What is the story of the Khazars? Milorad Pavic gives us the search for the Dictionary and a reconstructed possible version of the Dictionary, all in one. The rest is up to us...
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From the Back Cover
"All its delights...the structural novelty and the comic inventiveness of the imagery...[are] an ebullient and generous celebration of the reading experience."
-- The New York Times Book Review
"As with Borges or Garcia Marquez...[Pavic] knows how to support his textual legerdemain with superb portrait miniatures and entrancing anecdotes." -- Washington Post Book World
Translated from the Serbo-Croatian
by Christina Pribicevic-Zoric
About the Author
Milorad Pavić was a much loved writer, specializing in poetry, short stories, and literary histories. Pavić was born in Serbia. His works have gained acclaim worldwide, with translations of his titles existing in over thirty languages. Pavić was not only popular in his native Serbia, he also reached great acclaim in South America and Europe, where he was considered to be one of the greatest writers of his time. Pavić is the author of Dictionary of the Khazars, Landscape Painted with Tea, Second Body, and many more.
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Dictionary of the Khazars: A Lexicon Novel
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Dictionary of the Khazars
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Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Publisher: Hamish Hamilton, London, 1989. First Edition, First Printing. FINE hardcover book in NEAR FINE dust-jacket. Light chipping and small closed tears at the extremities. Not remainder marked. Not price-clipped. Not a book club edition. Not an ex-library copy. All of our books with dust-jackets are shipped in fresh, archival-safe mylar protective sleeves. Seller Inventory # SKU1026862
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Dictionary of the Khazars: A lexicon novel
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ISBN 10: 0241126584
ISBN 13: 9780241126585
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Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First Edition. Translated by Christina Pribicevic-Zoric. Purple pages edges around the block of the book. Heavy book may require extra postage unless posted within South Africa. Frontispiece. Publication of 338 pages. The dust jacket is a little shelf rubbed and a touch edge worn. The boards are in good condition. Internally the pages are immaculately clean and complete. Tightly bound and presented in cellophane. The binding is excellent. GK. Our orders are shipped using tracked courier delivery services. Seller Inventory # 6qcxa
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Dictionary of the Khazars
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Dictionary of the Khazars: A Lexicon Novel (a first printring--female version)
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Dictionary of the Khazars A Lexicon Novel, Translated from Serbo-Croatian By Christina Pribicevic-Zoric (The Female Edition of the Dictionary)
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ISBN 10: 0241126584
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Hard Cover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good in Sleeve. Kang Yi (illustrator). First Edition. 338pp. 8.7 inches. Brown leatherette, gilt titles. Unused unread book, as new. All-crimson edges. Internally pristine. In pictorial jacket, artwork Kang Yi, nearly as new, with tiny rubs at fold extremities, halfinch closed tear to top edge, protected in mylar sleeve. Illustrated throughout with decorative section titlepages, and some small woodcuts. Decorative brown endpapers. An elaborate historical adventure cum mysticism quest novel. States The Female Edition of the Dictionary, the Male edition differs by 1 paragraph. By esteemed Serbian writer, potential candidate several times for Nobel Prize, 600g (Science fiction, Historical, Middle East. Mysticism) Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Seller Inventory # C15511
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Dictionary of the Khazars
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