Dictionary of the Khazars: Male Version : A Lexicon Novel

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 and plot, this lexicon novel combines the dictionaries of the world's three major religions with entries that leap between past and future, featuring three unruly wise men, a book printed in poison ink, suicide by mirrors, a chimerical princess, a sect of priests who can infiltrate one's dreams, romances between the living and the dead, and much more. "No chronology will be observed here, nor is one necessary. Hence each reader will put together the book for himself, as in a game of dominoes or cards, and, as with a mirror, he will get out of this dictionary as much as he puts into it, for you [...] cannot get more out of the truth than what you put into it." - Milorad Pavic “Dictionary of the Khazars” rivals Umberto Eco’s “The Name of the Rose” in wit, invention and intellect and exceeds it in sheer whodunit intricacy”. Douglas Seibold, Chicago Tribune "As with Borges, or Garcia Marquez... Pavić knows how to support his textual legerdemain with superb portrait miniatures and entrancing anecdotes" - Michael Dirda, Washington Post Cet heritier serbe de Borges, Perec, Tolkien et Calvino invite même le lecteur a festoyer sans reserve, et a « lire comme il mange en se servant de son oeil droit comme d' une fourchette et de son oeil gauche comme d un couteau,et en jetant les os par-dessus I'epaule » - Sabine Audrerie, La Croix

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 and plot, this lexicon novel combines the dictionaries of the world's three major religions with entries that leap between past and future, featuring three unruly wise men, a book printed in poison ink, suicide by mirrors, a chimerical princess, a sect of priests who can infiltrate one's dreams, romances between the living and the dead, and much more.

Publishers Weekly

Available in slightly differing ``male'' and ``female'' editions, the narrative purports to be the historical record of the Khazars, a fictional Indo-European tribe that vanished in the 10th century. ``Pavic is a 20th-century Scheherazade,'' acknowledged PW . ``Readers who are intrigued by literary conundrums will enjoy entering this magical world with Pavic as their guide.'' (Oct.)

Written in two versions, male and female, which are identical save for seventeen crucial lines, this is the imaginary book of knowledge of the Khazars, a people who flourished somewhere beyond Transylvania between the seventh and ninth centuries. This lexicon novel combines the dictionaries of the world's three major religions with entries that leap between past and future, featuring three unruly wise men, a book printed in poison ink, suicide by mirrors, a chimerical princess, a sect of priests who can infiltrate one's dreams, romances between the living and the dead, and much more