Manaschi (Paperback)

Hamid Ismailov

ISBN 10: 1911284576 / ISBN 13: 9781911284574

Published by Tilted Axis Press, 2021

About this Item

Paperback. Finalist, Prix Jan Michalski de Litterature 2023Shortlisted, EBRD Literature Prize 2022In his latest tragicomedy Hamid Ismailov interrogates the interaction between tradition and modernity, myth and reality.A radio presenter interprets one of his dreams as an initiation by the world of spirits into the role of a Manaschi, a Kyrgyz bard and shaman who recites and performs the epic poem, Manas, and is revered as someone connected with supernatural forces. Travelling to his native mountainous village, populated by Tajiks and Kyrgyz, and unravelling his personal and national history, our hero Bekesh instead witnesses a full re-enactment of the epic's wrath.Following on from the award winning The Devils' Dance and Of Strangers and Bees, this is the third and final book in Ismailov's informal Central Asia trilogy. A former radio-presenter wrongly interprets one of his dreams and thinks that he has been initiated into the world of spirits as a manaschi, one of the Kyrgyz bards and healers reciting Manas, but instead witnesses the full scale of the epic's wrath on his life. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781911284574

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Manaschi (Paperback)
• Publisher: Tilted Axis Press
• Publication Date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1911284576
• ISBN 13: 9781911284574
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

In his latest tragicomedy Hamid Ismailov interrogates the intersection between tradition and modernity.

A former radio-presenter wrongly interprets one of his dreams and thinks that he has been initiated into the world of spirits as a manaschi, one of the Kyrgyz bards and healers reciting Manas - the longest human epic, consisting nearly of a million verses - who are revered as people who are connected with supernatural forces. Travelling to a mountainous village populated by Tajiks and Kyrgyzs, he instead witnesses the full scale of the epic's wrath on his life.

Following on from the award-winning The Devils' Dance and Of Strangers and Bees, this is the third and final book in Ismailov's Central Asia trilogy.

About the Authors

Hamid Ismailov is an Uzbek writer who was forced to flee Uzbekistan in 1992 due to what the state dubbed ‘unacceptable democratic tendencies’. He came to the United Kingdom, where he took a job with the BBC World Service. His works are banned in Uzbekistan. Several of his Russian-original novels have been published in English translation, including The Railway (Vintage, 2007) ,The Dead Lake, which was long listed for the 2015 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, and The Underground (both Restless Books). The Devils’ Dance was the first of his Uzbek language novels to appear in English, and won the EBRD Prize in 2019.

Donald Rayfield is professor of Russian and Georgian at Queen Mary University of London. He is an author of books about Russian and Georgian literature, and about Joseph Stalin and his secret police. He is also a series editor for books about Russian writers and intelligentsia. He translated Georgian and Russian poets and prose writers.