Dictionary of the Khazars (M)

by Milorad Pavić

Book Overview

A national bestseller, Dictionary of the Khazars was cited by The New York Times Book Review as one of the best books of the year. Written in two versions, male and female (both available in Vintage International), which are identical save for seventeen crucial lines, Dictionary is the imaginary book of knowledge of the Khazars, a people who flourished somewhere beyond Transylvania between the seventh and ninth centuries. Eschewing conventional narrative...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679724613
• ISBN13: 9780679724612
• Release Date: October 1989
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.9" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

A world of its own, superb

This book has taken me years to read, not because it reads badly, or because it lacks hooks, au contraire, the problem is that there is so much to take in, such richness, that I spend my time re-reading and cross-reading all the time. The book is basically a dictionary of the imaginary Khazar people (this one happens to be the male version, the female version differs in only one word, but THAT makes all the difference), you read it as you would any other dictionary, you pick and entry and you read, that entry is also filled with cross references to other entries, where pertinent. It is at that point that the fun begins. By navigating in seemingly random fashion, a world begins to emerge, one as mystical and strange as it is real and solid. Pavic has an unusual command of the absurdity of meaning; his juxtaposition of the normal with the bizarre as if there was nothing to it makes reading him exciting, new. The book will probably appeal to the historian inside us, as well as to the meddler, the gossiper and the prude in us. That juxtaposition creates a desire to know 'what next then?' We meet princesses with deadly eyelids, slow mirrors and fast mirrors, poisonous books and killer winks... Read it, but you will never be done with it!

Unique and Enchanting!!

Honestly, I am not certain what to write about Pavic's "Dictionary of the Khazars." This is not because I did not enjoy it-- I enjoyed it hugely-- but because I am not certain there is anything else it can be compared to. Unlike his other works, which are certainly amiable enough fiction, this book is inspired, and totally unique. Taking the form of a dictionary, it is completely nonlinear and untraditional, essentially a hypertext novel printed on paper. To make things a bit more interesting, the dictionary is actually three separate dictionaries, each 'composed' by a different character, and 'redacted' by a fourth. One reading cannot suffice to comprehend and appreciate the book, one really must read it at least twice: once to try and figure out who the players are and what the hell is happening; and again to go back and forth, following the tangled threads of characters and ideas to appreciate the quality of the story's craft. The book, unsurprisingly, deals with various people's obsession with the story of the Khazars. I found this delightful, as I have always been fascinated with the story myself, and especially considering it seems few have even heard the tale today. There really were Khazars: they were a Russo-Slavic people, living (as Pavic duly assures us) near to the Black Sea, just north of the Byzantine Empire. At an indeterminate time, but likely around 700 CE, their king decided to change his religion, and requested a disputation (a religious debate) be held for him by representatives of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, so he could pick the proper path. He chose Judaism, and the entire nation converted, becoming, for the rest of their existence, the only sovreign Jewish nation in the world from the Roman expulsion of Jews from Judea in 200 to the founding of the State of Israel in 1948. The Khazars were conquered and dispersed sometime around the 10th century or so, and perhaps might have passed out of history (save for the most curious of esoteric legend collectors) had the Khazari disputation not been used as the literary framing of Rabbi Judah HaLevi's medieval philosophy of Judaism, entitled "Kuzari" (the Hebraicization of 'Khazars'). Pavic starts at this juicy tidbit of historia obscura-- already more than a bit surreal to begin with-- takes it, and runs. The Khazars in his book are an enchanting fusion of excellently-researched fact (or however close to fact the actual legends of the Khazars may be) and Pavic's own strange creations, such as their being 'dream hunters' and treasuring numerous different varieties of salt. The three sections of the dictionary are purportedly compiled in late medieval or early Renaissance times by a Christian, a Jew, and a Muslim, respectively, with the redaction being modern and secular. The helpful device of the book is that dictionary entries which are found in multiple sections (yes, some are only found in one section or another-- read carefully) are marked by a cross, and/or a Star of D

Between total fantasy and magical realism

I saw this book in a store and saw that there were two editions. This intrigued me -- why "Male" & "Female". It was only several years later on the Internet that I was finally able to find the differing sections -- and different they are, although not necessary for the enjoyment of the book. Choose either edition; you will find the same pleasure.The Khazars were a real people, holding wide areas of modern-day Russian. They did convert, eventually to Judaism, although you would never learn this from Pavic in particular. No, Pavic is not worried about the reality of the Khazars, but in the melding of cultures of the Balkans, the state of Man and God and their relationships to each other, and odd connections that a literate reader makes between multiple books.This is not a book with a plot. This is not a book with a single or simple way to read it. I believe that I have read the whole book twice, but they only way I could say that for certain would to be like Hansel and Gretzel and leave marks on the pages that I have actually finished. Like swimming through a dictionary or encyclopedia, this book invites you to read sections in no particular order, or, more realistically, in the order YOU see fit to choose.The three sections (Christina, Muslem, Jewish) are seperated, yet intermingled due to cross references (many of them contradictory). They are colour-coded, yet this only provides one level of deliniation. Each section is set up like an encyclopedia in its own right. The unifying figure of Princess Ateh is sure to intrigue any sagacious reader; the whimsical nature of the book may seem superficial at first, but you will be drawn deeper into the mystery of "What is this all about?"Prepare to lose yourself in a magical world of words and inter-relations. I have noted that previous reviewers have compared the writing to Marquez and Calvino -- this is not far off the mark, especially if one could only spin the two together.

Good and Evil: Men, Devils and God fight each other

This book simultaneously tells several totally distinct estories, but which are all the same. It is incredibly charming, I read it twice, some years ago, and the excerpts that I wrote may be slightly different on the book due to this!The first way to read this book is as a tale of three excludent versions of the conversion of a people to the true Religion: Judaism, Christianity and Islamism. Three wise men were convoked by the Khazars King to explain a dream. Afterwards each claims to have won the debate, although even ignoring the names of their opponents. It seems to me a very proper symbol of the European or even the World History: each one describing events totally blind to other peoples versions.The Khazars, before converting, had a Religion based on Dreams. Afterwards they were destroyed by the Kievan Russians, "so suddenly that the shadows of their palaces had no time to disappear together with the buildings, and still remain there". "Only some parrots of the Black Sea still remember their language." It is also a fantastically poetic book, with many moving passages. It relates the fight of Man to recreate a New Man, against the concerted alliance of the devils of the three religions. It tells an incredible maze of personal estories: the powerful princess Ateh, an european noble fighting on the turkish side, a devil who painted religious icons, and so forth. In conclusion, it tells the estory of Man alone trying to create its own Future, but fighting against poerful devils and the omnipresent God, whoever He is. In this way it remembers me a fantastic brazilian romance "The Devil pay on the Backlands (Grande Sertao: Veredas)" of Joao Guimaraes Rosa: Is there a Devil or is everything of our own responsability? That may be a good question to ask ourselves.

The book that took the place of a people

This book was written by a serbian professor of literature, but might have been written by a former argentinian librarian: Jorge Luis Borges. Both the authors share a love for combinatorics, puzzling coincindences, catalogues, and bizzarre stories. Their stile is rational and dramatic at the same time, like the facade of a baroque church. Also, this book was published in 1986, the year of Borges' death, and is maybe the epitaph that Borges would have liked. This is a book about the truth. The king of a mysterious people (the Khazars) summons three sages (a christian, a muslim and a jew), because he wants to convert to the true god. Centuries later, three literati write their own accounts of that conversion (each one is different). And this century, three researcher investigate again on what happened. Finally, there is not a single truth. The book is organized as a dictionary, or better, three dictionaries (one for each religion). Every word inspires a different story and explanation, but all are filled with magic events and mysterious characters. The reader is the ultimate investigator -- and creator -- of the Khazar empire. It's up to him to discover the truth. A final (and personal) note. This "dictionary" may seem an extremely sophisticated literary game, similar to those of Calvino and Perec. This is is true, but there is more. When the book was out, the civil war (apparently motivated by secular religious intolerance) had not begun yet. To me, this book seems also a passionate attempt to show how difficult is to attain the truth, and an invitation to tolerance.