Published by: Turkey - Da Yayıncılık (2004), USA - Central Books (1972)
Fazil Iskander is the author of multiple short stories and novelettes. He has published over 20 collections marked by vividness and fresh, graphic imagery.
Lyrical and humorous, deeply national but concerned with the human condition at large, often about children but mainly for adults, Fazil Iskander's writing abounds, like his native Abkhazia, in colour and contrasts. It is merriment and toil that make the earth beautiful, Iskander writes in one of his stories. These qualities are also typical of his characters, most of them drawn from his fellow countrymen, ever a mixture of gallantry and guile, humour and hard work. -- R.Daglish