Fazil Iskander’s "Ferry", summary

This book is the final, tenth volume of Fazil Iskander’s collected works, published in 2004. The collection includes the author’s poetic legacy, his literary-critical essays, articles, and aphorisms, as well as an analytical essay by literary scholar Natalia Ivanova and a chronological bibliographic index. The lyrical section covers the poet’s journey from his early Caucasian poems to his late philosophical poems and epigrams from the turn of the century.

The author’s ten-volume collected works won first place in the "High Culture of Popular Books" category at the First International Book Art Competition in 2004. "Ferry" completes this series. Previously, the series included the author’s prose works, including the three-volume novel "Sandro from Chegem," the stories "The Constellation of Kozlotur," "Sofichka," "Chick’s Childhood," and the novels "Man and His Environs" and "Human Encampment."

Lyrical heritage and poems

The first section comprises poems, ballads, verses, and translations. Early lyrical texts are devoted to the Caucasian nature, mountain life, and the labor of shepherds and peasants. In poems such as "Blackberry," "Children of the Black Sea," "I Want to Go to the Mountains," "Buffalo," "A Boy with a Hoe," and "A Boy with a Hawk," the author extols physical strength, oneness with the earth, and loyalty to the laws of the hearth and traditions. The poet conveys the joy of life’s simplest manifestations — the taste of ripe watermelon, juicy pomegranate, a cool spring, hot khash, and homemade cheese.

Narrative ballads convey dramatic moments in Caucasian history and folk life. In "Ballad of the Fishing Trade," fishermen set out into the bay at four o’clock in the morning after the funeral of a hundred-year-old comrade. Young members of the crew, Sakhalidi Khristo and Nikolai Laban, vow to renounce quarrels in order to fulfill their plan. On the launch, the hard work unfolds — sorting nets, clearing jellyfish from the gear, and catching scaly-sided salmon and red mullet.

"The Ballad of the Stolen Goat" takes us back to events half a century ago on the Kodori River. An abrek steals a goat from a herd. The young hero, along with an armed comrade, catches the thief in a gorge, seizes the rifle bolt, and forces him to make amends. For violating the laws of hospitality and honor, the abrek is shot to death over a cliff.

In "Ballad of Hunting and Winter Grapes," the author remembers his deceased brother, Rouf. During a winter deer hunt, his brother cut down snow-covered grape clusters with a well-aimed shot, and a year later, he died of lung disease. In "Ballad of Giordano’s Abdication," a monologue by Giordano Bruno is heard before a bonfire, preferring death by fire to false religious humility. In "Ballad of the Narodnaya Volya Member and the Provocateur," a revolutionary tightens the noose around the neck of a traitor who betrayed his comrades to a ditch.

Large-format poems occupy a special place. In the poem "Little One, or the Poem of Light," the poet observes his young son’s first steps. Observing the child’s games, the author reflects on Goethe and Newton’s debate about the nature of light. The poet will come to the conclusion that light is equal to love and childlike innocence.

The poem "The Ferry" describes a mystical crossing of the Kodori River. The ferryman is a deceased Greek shepherd named Harlampo, exiled to Kazakhstan in 1949. On the ferry, the hero encounters deceased loved ones: a drinking brother, a hunter cousin who died in prison, a grandfather with a hoe, eager to plow, and a mother, longingly gazing at the shore she is leaving behind. In "The Ballad of Freedom," the author reflects on her personal journey, her memories of her uncle from Magadan in the camps, and the spirit’s resistance to state violence. The section concludes with epigrams, humorous verses, and a translation of Rudyard Kipling’s "The Ballad of the West and the East" and "The Commandment."

Philosophical essays and literary criticism

The essay section contains the writer’s reflections on classical literature, morality, and government. In the essay "Reflections of a Writer," the author recalls his childhood reading of Alexander Pushkin’s "The Captain’s Daughter" and the devotion of his servant Savelich. The author divides world literature into "the literature of the home," which brings peace and wisdom (Alexander Pushkin, Leo Tolstoy, Anna Akhmatova), and "the literature of homelessness," exposed to tragic storms (Mikhail Lermontov, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Marina Tsvetaeva).

The work "Poets and Tsars" examines the relationship between Russian writers and the authorities. The author shows how the struggle between the spirit and political violence played out in the lives of Leo Tolstoy, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Osip Mandelstam, and Boris Pasternak. In the essay "Mozart and Salieri," the author examines in detail the tragedy of Alexander Pushkin, analyzing the nature of Salieri’s envy and demonstrating that true genius is incapable of villainy due to the complete dedication of his creative energies.

In "Recollections of a Novel," the author describes reading Anna Karenina during the war, contrasting Leo Tolstoy’s domesticity with the homeless world of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Possessed. The essay "Pasternak and the Ethics of Clarity in Art" traces the development of Boris Pasternak’s poetics from his early verbal eloquence to his later accessibility. "A Word about Pushkin" is dedicated to the harmony and life-affirming power of Pushkin’s language.

In the socio-philosophical essay "State and Conscience," the author criticizes the Marxist thesis on the primacy of economics over the spirit. He argues that conscience is the only true foundation of society. Without a foundation of conscience, the economy devolves into plunder. The author proposes involving the humanities intelligentsia in governance and laying the foundations of a state of conscience. The section concludes with a section titled "A Little About Many Things," containing laconic aphorisms and memoirs about literature, nature, children, and old age.

Analytical essay and bibliographic index

This section includes Natalia Ivanova’s literary criticism article, "Fazil the Magnificent." The art historian explores the writer’s life and career, from his work in newspapers to his worldwide acclaim. The article examines the story "The Constellation of Goat-Tur," the "Chick’s Childhood" cycle, the novel "Sandro from Chegem," the fairy tale "Rabbits and Boas," and his later novellas "Sofichka" and "The Poet."

Natalia Ivanova demonstrates how the author created her own artistic world — Abkhazia, Mukhus, and Chegem. This world is filled with festive folk laughter, conquering fear, violence, and death. The article notes the shift in her later work toward a direct ethical stance and the struggle to preserve humanity.

The book concludes with a detailed chronological bibliography. It lists all of Fazil Iskander’s publications from 1953 to 2004, including his first poems in almanacs, magazine selections, individual editions, collections, and translations.