Title: Forbidden fruit and other stories Author: Iskander, Fazil Translated by Robert Daglish Published: Moscow  Progress Publishers [1972] 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. The full book in PDF can be downloaded by clicking here (825 KB)

Fazil Iskander (born 1929) is a much admired and decorated Abkhazian writer. He chose to write in through the medium of Russian, and he is regarded by many as one of the finest of modern writers in this language. It would be wrong, however, to conclude that he does not know Abkhaz, an insulting charge laid against him by Georgian nationalists at the start of the recent Georgian-Abkhazian conflict in the late 1980s. Anyone wishing to familiarise themselves with the patterns of traditional Abkhazian life, Abkhazian attitudes and general culture can do no better than read Iskander’s works, notably Sandro of Chegem. One of Iskander’s popular characters, a young Abkhazian boy named Chik, has recently been modelled in bronze and set on the sea-front of the Abkhazian capital, Sukhum.

Chik

an Abkhazian Mark Twain By Susan Jacoby (The New York Times,  May 15, 1983)