Khazars as Chimera

Dictionary of the Khazars: A Lexicon Novel in 100,000 Words - Milorad Pavic (Christina Pribicevic-Zoric, tr.)

This novel disguised as a reference work has encyclopedia-like entries would be enjoyable for dipping into between other books, in waiting rooms, on busses or planes, before bed, etc. Taking it to a desert island would work too. As one can imagine, when reading an almanac or massive biographical resource like "20th Century Crime and Mystery Writers," the reader will negotiate both stimulating sections and dreary sections.

I read it through, in what readers into post-modernism may call a “linear fashion,” though I’m not sure that’s the best way to read it but that’s how we reading gluttons roll.

The first lasting impression is that its where and when are intrinsically cool. This fictionalized reference dictionary is about the lost trading empire of the Khazars, which spanned what’s now the Ukrainian steppes to lands approaching the Ural River and from the Middle Volga region to the North Caucasus and Crimea. So the place is a region that rivals southeast Asia for diversity. And the time period has such range that we don’t whether to name it late antiquity, or the early Christian era, or the dawn of the medieval age.

Another theme is the ‘Khazar polemic’ when a Khazar kaghan invited representatives of the three major faiths to explain to him why the Khazars should adopt their particular confession. In fact, the novel is about knowledge and truth, about their ephemerality. It is also about belief in the sense that people will draw useful life lessons from the wackiest content in legends and fables but, more concerning, be quite willing to believe any junky claim relative to history and society if it fits their prejudices neatly enough. A bit of fiction brings us closer to the reality in which we find ourselves, but too much fantasy that panders to our biases will screw us up.

Most entries are beautifully written, the writing and repetition creates a rhythm. Pavic constructs reality so that it has variability and draws our attention. However, this is post-modernist fiction so the difficult writing style, the metaphors especially, sometimes seems not only strange, sometimes gross, but also needlessly complicated to get a point across. I know, obscurity and tedium come with the po-mo territory, but at times it is like coming up with a metaphor for the sake of inserting a metaphor. Like looking at a psychedelic poster, this sometimes creates a feeling of oversaturation, but with words words words.

And so the reader will just sigh and go with the flow, like reading Faulkner and assuming you will get it the next time you read it.