Dictionary of the Khazars
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Dictionary of the Khazars: A Lexicon Novel is the first novel by Serbian writer Milorad Pavich (Milorad Pavić), published in 1984.
Originally written in Serbian, the novel has been translated into many languages, including English.
There is no easily discerned plot in the conventional sense, but the central question of the book (the mass religious conversion of the Khazar people) is based on an historical event generally dated to the last decades of the 8th century or the early 9th century when the Khazar royalty and nobility converted to Judaism, and part of the general population followed.
However, from this starting point, Pavić often veers into his own style of playful, somewhat Borgesian fantasy: most of the characters and events described in the novel are entirely fictional, as is the culture ascribed to the Khazars in the book, which bears little resemblance to any literary or archeological evidence. The novel might be a sort of metafictional false document, as the people and events in the novel are presented as factual.
The novel takes the form of three cross-referenced mini-encyclopedias, each compiled from the sources of one of the Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Islam, and Judaism). Due to its format as a dictionary, the novel may be read in any number of ways, rather than just front to back. This challenges readers to shun passive reading and become active participants in the novel, as they piece together the story from fragmented, and often conflicting, accounts. As the author writes (in his introduction to the work, translated to English)
- "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."
The book comes in two different editions, one "Male" and one "Female", which differ in only a critical paragraph.
Some have suggested the novel addresses the break up of Yugoslavia, which had not yet happened when the novel was written, but was clearly a distinct possibility.[citation needed]
