A national bestseller, dictionary of the khazars was cit. As if this is not sufficiently complex, the dictionary of the khazars the real pavic novel from 1984, not the imaginary 1691 reference work has been released in two separate versions, a male edition and a female edition. I just chanced upon 2 copies of dictionary of the khazars. Rather than compose a traditional novel or a typical research paper, pavich creates three seperate dictionaries christian, jewish, and muslim that contain various entries of fictional khazars in history. Male and female, which differ, like two thumbprints, by 15 lines. Khazars worshipped siva lingam before judaism religions. World religion to which the khazars did not convert to.
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. My copy is a female edition, and back before the days of the internet, a reader who wanted to compare texts with the male. While some khazars converted to judaism, most did not and remained in the pagan khazarate religion. 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. A lexicon novel is the first novel by serbian writer milorad pavic. Only seventeen lines are different, but these come during a crucial letter in the yellow or hebrew book, and the difference does inflect the narrative, adding the issue of gender to its. The khazars were a turkic people among whom central and eastern ashkenazic jews resided. Dictionary of the khazars is a work of fiction written by milorad pavic relating to the factual khanate of the khazars, the actual, yet debatable and certainly obscure, conversion of the khazars to judaism and the mysterious remnants of the khazar civilisation. Khazar definition is a tatar people existing as a nation in the caucasus and southeastern russia from about the end of the 2d century a.
As if dictionary of the khazars doesnt have enough gimmickry in it although the writing and stories rise well above simple gimmicks, the book was issued in two different editions, which pavic calls the male and female edition. 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. Why did the author of the dictionary of the khazars publish a male. The passage in the female version of the novel that differs from the. The former course leads to dismay, and the hopelessness of any redemption. There are two versions of pavics dictionary, a male version and a female version. Dictionary of the khazars a lexicon novel in 100,000 words. My own experience of the quandary may be instructive. Although the origin of the term khazar and the early history of the khazar people are obscure, it is fairly certain that the khazars were originally located in the northern caucasus.
The dictionary even recommends that you read it in whatever order occurs to you to do so. The passage in the female version of the novel that differs from the male version is in the last letter of book the yellow book, entries schultz, dr. One is the male edition, while the other is the female edition. 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.
The dictionary is purportedly a translation of the only surviving copy of a book written in the seventeenth century, when khazar scholarship was in vogue. Difference between male and female version of dictionary of the khazars. A khazar jew could be either an ethnic khazar of turkish or mongol blood who became a proselyte to judaism or an ethnic jew who lived in khazaria. Noveldictionary, something absolutely extraordinary only milorad pavich can write. Khazars originally practiced a traditional turkic form of cultic practices known as tengriism, which focused on the sky god tengri.
Dictionary of the khazars exists in two editions, male and female, and to that extent. No discussion of the dictionary of the khazars would be complete without mentioning that the book also comes in two distinct editions, a male and a female. Now, i know from wikipedia the 2 editions only differ in 1 place. Entries are alphabetically arranged and can be perused at random, read start to finish or back to front. Due to economical reasons, the reeditions are now known as androgynous, and the author explains in their foreword which was the difference between the 2. There are two forms of the book, a male version and a female version. The dictionary of the khazars, though, is using the khazars as a stalking horse, a metaphor if you will. Haaretz the claim that todays ashkenazi jews are descended from khazars who converted in the middle ages is a myth, according to new research by a. What makes the khazars unique in european history is the conversion of their king bulan to a form of judaism, along with the khazar ruling class, about ad 740. Literary critics have come to different conclusions, but all agree on one point. This difference is appealingly subtle, but to call it crucial, as the publishers do, is a joke, one worthy, i suppose, of the books own winsome selfmockery, but all too suggestive, given the.
Whats the difference of male edition and female edition. Khazaria article about khazaria by the free dictionary. The publisher is offering two different versions, designated male and female, and differing by only 15 lines. Milorad pavics dictionary of the khazars and gabriel garcia marquezs one. The two sections critically differ in only a few sentences, in one passage. Both editions differed in a subtle way on one of the articles. Originally written in serbian, the novel has been translated into many languages. The khazar princess ateh is a magical character who brings poetry into the novel, and the strength of the female principle. Be warned that one paragraph is crucially different. As he passed them to me, his thumb brushed mine and i trembled from the touch. 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.
There are two versions of the khazars dictionary, male and female the difference between is not obvious, and that is another puzzle the author offers to solve. And i know the passages from both editions can be found on the net. Dictionary is the imaginary book of knowledge of the khazars. The narrative purports to be the historical record of the khazars, a fictional indoeuropean tribe that vanished in the 10th. Dictionary of the khazars purports to be a reconstruction of this lost dictionary about a lost empire. Dictionary of the khazars has a male and a female version, and the reader can also find both in the androgynous edition of this curious book, which is already among the classics of the 20 th century and has been called the first novel of the 21 st century. Dictionary of the khazars by milorad pavic, paperback. Somewhere in the book pavic writes that the difference.
I liked the book still own it, but read about the difference too late for it to assess how the outcome might have changed, had i read the female. In the intervening years, the book has become required reading for many collegelevel english classes. Having religious, minidictionary strands based on each of the three. Difference between male and female version of dictionary. Khazar, member of a confederation of turkicspeaking tribes that in the late 6th century ce established a major commercial empire covering the southeastern section of modern european russia. Paratextual play in milorad pavics dictionary of the. The boundaries of khazaria were formed by the western coast of the caspian sea as far as the sulak river in northern dagestan, by the lower don river to the point at which it comes closest to the volga, by the lower course of the volga, and by part of the northern caspian lowland. Buy dictionary of the khazars m vintage international. The book comes in two different editions, one male and one female, which differ in only a critical passage in a single paragraph.
Dictionary of the khazars male edition milorad pavic pdf best of all, they are entirely free to find, use and download, so there is no cost or stress at all. The author of the dictionary of the khazars, milorad pavic, published two editions. In 2010 i was contacted by the chief editor of a volume called khazars. Dictionary of the khazars by milorad pavic goodreads. It appeared in 1984 both in the male and in the female version, and the reader was given a choice as to which version to read. This central conceit of the text effectively emphasizes the distance, the ineluctable gap between writing and that which it seeks to represent, the gap which is the very space of textuality and representation itself. Why ashkenazi jews are not descended from khazars and. It was first published in english by knopf, new york in 1988 there is no easily discerned plot in the conventional sense, but.
And he gave me a few of the xeroxed sheets of paper lying on the table in front of him. Written in two versions, male and female both available in vintage. Dictionary of the khazars a novel by milorad pavic. Difference between male and female version of dictionary of the. Schulz s decision to read the xeroxed sheets in the male edition, and not to read them in the female.
A lexicon novel in 100, 000 words male edition milorad pavic. The difference, taken together, though, does provide a definitive answer to that central crucial question that the dictionary plays with and tries to avoid answering. There are definitely gender stereotypes here, of a more violent male passage vs a gentle female one. The narrative purports to be the historical record of the khazars, a fictional. Similar to mongolian blue sky god koke mongke tengri. Dictionary of the khazars exists in two editions, male and female, and to that extent challenges not only preconceptions of the dictionary form, but also of broader procedures governing book design and publishing, and of readers consumption of texts. See featured authors answering questions learn more. I have frequently been asked what the essence of the difference between the male and the female copies of my book is. Why did the author of the dictionary of the khazars. This is the english translation of hazarski recnik, which was originally written in serbocroatian.
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