Fazil Iskander dies: quotes from a great writer and quotes about him

Fazil Iskander died.
Photo: volgadaily.ru

The classic of Russian literature of the second half of the 20th century Fazil Iskander died in Moscow at the age of 87.

He wrote “Sandro from Chegem”, “Chick’s Childhood”, “Rabbits and Boas”, “Thinking of Russia and the American” and many other works, reports with the BBC.

The funeral of Fazil Iskander will be held 2 August.

“We plan that a civil memorial service will be held on Tuesday at the Central House of Writers, and the funeral will take place at the Novodevichy Cemetery if the Moscow authorities make a positive decision,” said the writer’s relatives.

Fazil Iskander was born 6 March 1929 year in Sukhumi (Georgia). He graduated from the Russian school in Abkhazia with a gold medal. After graduation, he entered the Library Institute in Moscow, three years later transferred to the Institute of Literature. Maxim Gorky, who graduated in 1954 year.

In 1954-1956 years, Fazil Iskander worked as a journalist in Kursk and Bryansk. In 1956, he became an editor at the Abkhaz branch of the State Publishing House, where he worked until the beginning of the 1990s.

Since the beginning of the 1990-ies constantly lived in Moscow.

Fazil Iskander’s first book of poems, “Mountain Paths,” was published in Sukhumi in 1957.

He became famous for his story “The Constellation of Kozlotur,” which was published in 1966 in Novy Mir.

In 1980, two of his stories were included in the famous collection “Metropol”, after which Iskander was included in the black list of opposition Soviet writers and was not published in his homeland for several years.

During these years, he began publishing books in foreign publishing houses. A special place in the writer’s work is occupied by a cycle of works under the general title “Sandro from Chegem”.

Over the years and in different genres, Fazil Iskander created such works as “Remzik”, “Sea Scorpion”, “Childhood Tree”, “Human Encampment”, “Rabbits and Boa Constrictors”, “Sofichka”, “Poet” and “Man and its surroundings."

Fazil Iskander was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II, III, IV degrees, the highest Abkhaz Order of Honor and Glory. He is a laureate of the USSR State Prize and the Russian State Prize, the Triumph Prize.

Fazil Iskander died.
Photo: www.1tv.ru

Writers about Iskander:

Vladimir Voinovich:

“More than one generation has been engrossed in his works.”

Dmitry Bykov:

“Iskander was one of the most likely candidates for the Nobel Prize from Russia, many people talked about this, first of all, because he put on the literary globe a territory that was not there, for which the Nobel is usually given - Abkhazia. Of course, it was very far from real Abkhazia, it was metaphysical Abkhazia, the country of his childhood and happiness.”

Andrei Bitov:

“Iskander is a great writer who deserves the Nobel Prize for his novel “Sandro from Chegem.”

Michael Weller

“Fazil Iskander was, above all, a cheerful and honest person. When his stories began to appear in the mid-1960s, they were immediately noticeable for their simplicity, fun and honesty.”

Evgeny Vodolazkin

“Fazil Abdulovich had everything that a great writer should have. He saw the world as a whole, and not in particulars, and described it with a special, incomparable humor.”

Fazil Iskander died.
Photo: ivona.bigmir.net

Quotes from Fazil Iskander collected Arzamas Academy.

About women

“Is it true,” one of the guests asked him, “that your wife was an extraordinary beauty?”

“It was a rattlesnake,” answered Viktor Maksimovich and after a short pause added: “But with a silencer, which made it especially dangerous.”

"Human Stand"

“Women are bibliophiles of the product counters.”

"In a Parisian store"

“The more he drank, the more sobered his jealousy.”

"The Young Architect and the Beauty"

About men

“Just as you may not notice the stupidity of a beautiful woman, so you may not notice the splendor of a stupid man.”

"Holy Lake"

“...Men run wild faster. The burden of historical inaction falls mainly on men... that’s why they drink so much to forget themselves, thereby further aggravating their social anemia.”

"Wilhelm's Gold"

About life

“Life, it is not the cruelty of your lessons that is formidable, but their mysterious reticence is formidable!”

“Modern man feels the instability of everything that is happening around him. He has a feeling that everything is about to collapse, and for some reason everything holds on. The life around him oppresses him with a double oppression, that is, both the fact that everything should collapse, and the fact that everything is still holding on.”

"Sandro from Chegem"

About man and humanity

“...Man is a cross between a goat and Shakespeare.”

"Goats and Shakespeare"

“Nothing irritates a person more than prolonged gratitude.”

"Oh, my patron!"

About cattle

“According to colleagues from across the ridge, it turns out that all our goat goats are not walking in step and only the only North Caucasian turokoz is walking in step. But with whom?

"Constellation Kozlotur"

About theft

“Theft is a longing for creativity, an imitation of creativity.”

"Mimosa in the North"

“If books have stopped being stolen in a country, then everything else is being stolen.”

"Night Car"

About state and statehood

“Citizenship is taking your cigarette butt to the trash can. Statehood means making sure that the path to the next ballot box is not too tiring.”

"Traffic light"

“I am afraid that soon our impoverished government will announce a nationwide voluntary collection of funds for the construction of a people’s guillotine. After which - so it promises - there will be no beggars in the country. In what sense will it not happen? “Our poor citizens will begin to wonder sadly.”

"Night Car"

About paranoia

“The extraordinary cheerfulness of the deaf and dumb also aroused suspicion. Such cheerfulness is characteristic of conspirators. What if a conspiracy of deaf and dumb people is brewing in the country to seize power? By the way, the conspiracy of the deaf and dumb is very difficult to expose. For this we need deaf-mute informers who enjoy the trust of deaf-mute conspirators and at the same time the trust of security officers who understand the language of the deaf-mute, but are by no means deaf-mute.

The ever-increasing signs of deafness and muteness of the rulers could lead the deaf-mute to the idea that this process should be given logical completion and a dynasty of deaf-mutes should reign in Russia...”

"Night Car"

“The search for Bigfoot,” he said, “is, perhaps, a person’s longing for his beginning in anticipation of his end. People want to see their distant ancestor to try to understand when and where exactly they went crazy.”

"Human Stand"

“So, when we are presented with a good deed, we feel that we are too sober for it, and when, in the rarest cases, they turn to us for wise advice, it turns out that it is at this hour that we do not knit.”

"Sandro from Chegem" 

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