num_pages: 368
description: "Of all the writers in the USSR, Fazil Iskander (born 1929) is surely the one whose works can best survive translation and cultural export. One can easily imagine him becoming a best seller in this country. This is somewhat paradoxical, because, though he writes in Russian, Iskander comes from a tiny nation that few Americans have ever heard of—Abkhazia. This so-called republic lies beside Georgia on the Black Sea. As the world will discover sooner or later, Iskander is the Gabriel García Márquez of Abkhazia. The major work of Iskander's life is a novel called Sandro of Chegem. In a series of semi-independent tales, Iskander tells the 80-year story of Uncle Sandro from the 1880s to the 1960s—and Sandro's story is also the story of the Abkhazian people, with all their customs, superstitions, passions, and sufferings. In Iskander's case regionalism is not a barrier to understanding, because there is an epic, universal quality to his writings.…"—Carl R. Proffer, The New Republic
language: English
title: Sandro of Chegem
titlecomplete: Sandro of Chegem
genres: Fiction, Literature, Classics, Novels, Russian Literature, Historical Fiction, Russia
ratings_count: 453
publisher: Vintage Books