Product Description

Ali Khan and Nino Kipiani live in the oil-rich capital of Azerbaijan at the beginning of World War I. Despite their religious and cultural differences they have loved each other since childhood, but their own tolerence does not protect them from others.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35213 in Books
• Published on: 2000-10-05
• Original language: German
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Review
Ali Kahn Shirvanshir is Mohammedan: a man of the desert ('which does not ask, does not give, and does not promise anything'). Nino Kipiani is Georgian, a girl of woods and meadows; European, Christian - who eats with a knife and fork, drinks wine, does not wear the veil... a girl ahead of her time. But they fall in love and the words they speak are recognizable throughout the world and down the ages. Their commitment to each other is unforgettably touching, their loyalty poignant. They are destined, clearly, for tragedy. Not quite Romeo and Juliet, but aeons of culture, religion, tradition and history stand between them. They live in Baku, capital of Azerbeidshan, on the shores of the Caspian Sea, where Asia meets Europe, East meets West. Superficially, and because they love each other and believe that is enough, they 'understand', and are tolerant. But their invisible roots run deep, deeper than they realize, and the odds are against them. In the end it is not just religion and tradition which shatter their idyll. World War I will shake the kaleidescaope of their dreams forever and destroy the pattern of the world in which their families have lived for generations. This slim but epic novel has itself had a history almost as romantic and turbulent as that of the lovers. First published in 1937 (in Vienna), it disappeared during World War II, was re-discovered (in a second-hand bookshop) in the ruins of post-war Berlin, translated by Graman and republished in the 1970s, to reach Great Britain, finally, in the year 2000 as one of the great love stories of all time, and a vibrant, poetic, portrait of a period and social order still largely an enigma to the West. A novel not to be missed, often sunny as well as sad... not easily forgotten. (Kirkus UK)

This delicate intercultural love story was written pseudonymously by a Tartar who fled first the Bolesheviks and then the Germans only to die among the Italian fascists. Nothing more is known of him, and on the evidence of this novel the loss is regrettable. The scene is Baku in the Transcau-casus, a town where orientals and occidentals live compatibly, largely indifferent to their nominal Russian governors. Ali is a proud Mohammedan whose very civilized eastern upbringing and western education give him a breadth to equal his deep desert-warrior impulses; Nino, the Georgian Christian girl he has loved from childhood, is compassionate and giving but in full spirited possession of the soul which Ali's traditions (though not Ali) would deny her. Their love easily outweighs their difficulties so long as they stay in Baku; but when World War I erupts and they retreat to Persia it becomes apparent (and is later corroborated) that there is no other home for them. Nino could not survive the seclusion of an eastern wife; and when Baku wins a fleeting independence and Ali becomes a diplomat he is miserable trying to keep up the impassive urbanity of a western husband. He did not go to fight for the czar or with the czar's Turkish enemy - neither victory would have affected the town's development - but he does rally against the Bolsheviks, not on ideological grounds but because they threaten the delicate and irreplaceable setting for his happiness. The presentation of cultures and motives is extremely subtle and comprehending but this is no mere thesis novel. One wants these strong and gracious characters to prevail and wishes their author might have. (Kirkus Reviews)

Customer Reviews

A hidden gem!,
An exellent book so well written it is such a shame it is still little known.

Kurban Said otherwise known as Essad Bey was an Azeri Jew who converted to Shia Islam, wrote a number of novels (and a biography of Muhammad under the name Essad Bey) lived in Russia for a time before living out the rest of his days in Central Europe. His life reflects much of the characters he wrote about and the complex world they lived in.

The novel is a love story between Ali an Azeri Shia of a noble family and Nino a Georgian christian. The story surrounds their lives growing up in the turbluant world leading up to World War 1. How their love brought them together but their cultures tore them apart.

The reason I put a brief biography of the author is that to know him is to understand how he could write with such insight into the various cultures of the Caucuses both Christian and Muslim. His insights into the Shia rituals such as Ashura, the culture of Iran and the hopeless decline of the Persian empre.

While the writer covers this so well I feel at times he does go a little overboard on the wole east Vs west and the whole emphasis on Christian Nino seeing Ali as some kind of 'romantic barbarian' is a little silly. The Georgian people are proud of their own wild rustic culture and the Persians are hardly some kind of Bedowin desert people.

Still, this book realy does capture the time so well, in a maner that other writers on that most beautiful of lands such as Tolstoy and Pushkin would be proud.

A fascinating romance set in early 20th C Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan in the early 20th century was at the crossroads of civilisations, cultures and religions. Set against this backdrop at the start of WWI is this love story of Ali, a desert loving-Muslim, and Nino, a Christian Georgian princess who yearns to be more European. Theirs is a childhood romance that eventually blossoms fully and they marry despite many obstacles put in their way. However it finally becomes clear that Ali's real love is for his country which can only lead to tragedy.
Ali and Nino is a rediscovered novel, written in the 1930s and published in Vienna, then found and translated into English in the 1950s. It gives a fascinating glimpse of what life was like amongst the ruling classes in this cultural melting pot; neighbour to Persia, but stuck between the warring Turks and Russians. With derring-do, glamour, philosophy, and romance, this novel has everything, but ultimately failed to totally grab me - maybe because of Ali's lack of ambition and liking of an easy life, until his patriotic awakening. It was a very good, but not quite brilliant read.

A unique love story from AZERBAIJAN
I loved this book. As a woman born in USSR in Azerbaijan (Baku) at the end of the 20th century I can relate to the sentiments and events described in the book more than most people unless they come from Baku like myself. It shows what a leap my country has made in the time since the era in which the book was written. Sadly this cannot be said about the rest of Caucasus.

I want to draw the line between Azerbaijan and Caucasus because the book describes the events which happened in Azerbaijan and not in the whole of Caucasus. There are hundreds of nationalities with their own unique traditions and history who rightly claim their own place in the world history, so the point I am making is that the book specifically relates to Azerbaijan (and to Georgia to some degree) but should not be projected to what may have been happening in the rest of the Caucasus at the time.