Home » Kyrgyzstan » Sultan Raev » Жанжаза (Castigation)
Sultan Raev: Жанжаза (Castigation)
We open with seven inmates of a mental institution (all nutters in a nuthouse as they are called in this book) escaping from the institution during the night. Given various clues we seem to be in the post-Soviet period. There are seven of the escapees, five men and two women. They are called the Emperor, Genghis Khan, Kozuchak, Alexander the Great, Cleopatra, King Lear and Thaïs the Athenian. The Emperor is the one who planned the escape and who is leading them. He is apparently taking them to the Holy Land and they have full confidence that he knows the way. He does not. Only.Kozuchak seems to be using his real name and, even then, that might not be his real name.
All of them are odd in their own way and , indeed,their mental instability will show throughout their journey. However, some are odder than others.
The Emperor had had a brief fling with the woman we now know as Thaïs the Athenian and both seem to have enjoyed the meeting. He left behind a book for her which she concealed under her pillow and she is visited by two odd characters who are asking for the book. She denies any knowledge of it. It appears to be called the Holy Book but whether it is the Bible or the Koran or something similar we do not know. Like all books found in the institution it is substantially destroyed and only a couple of pages seem to remain.
We do gradually learn about the inmates and about what happens in the institution which seems to be decidedly unpleasant as anyone deemed to be a troublemaker is given an injection of sulfozinum which was very painful and distressing. We do meet one other inmate but he dies before the escape. He is known as the Holy Man but how holy he is is not clear.
It is generally agreed that, according to the Russians
the world is one huge mental hospital, and we are all patients. This book seems to confirm this view.
They start off with a problem in that the Emperor has been told by a fortune-teller that he will be killed by a snake. The desert that they are crossing is famously full of snakes and, indeed, they are approached by one who even climbs up the Emperor but does not bite him but does leave him in a state of panic. The snake, apparently, will follow them on their journey and reappear both with the Emperor and with Cleopatra.
We continue to get the stories of the seven. The most interesting is that of Genghis Khan. We actually seem to get the story of the real Genghis Khan which is highly colourful, highly imaginative and historically highly inaccurate. What this has got to do with our Genghis Khan? We soon find out that something of a curse has been put on Genghis Khan for a wicked deed that he did and that curse is that in the fortieth generation after him, his descendant will turn out to be insane. This insane person is, of course, our Genghis Khan. He is not the only one where we see the history of the real person they are based on as we see it also with Cleopatra and the snakes.
As mentioned, the Emperor does not know where they are or where the Holy Land is they are going to. This becomes apparent when the group runs out not only of food but of water, which obviously is a bit of a problem in a desert. Indeed, it seems though the Emperor may be dying.
Meanwhile we are getting the stories of the travellers not surprisingly, as happened with Genghis Khan, we get the story of the real Alexander the Great, but once again its historical accuracy is somewhat questionable.As with Genghis Khan, it also focuses on his death and To a certain extent on his love life. While the stories of Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great are somewhat fanciful, we get another story, entirely fictitious, involving ghosts, angels and Satan. We are wondering what this has to do with the story when we discover that it has to do with one of the travellers.
The travellers, now down to six, slowly make their way across more hospitable land and come across a man who seems to be handling six boats but, on closer inspection, they turn out to be coffins. The man, who tells them that he is Death, tells them that the coffins are for them. However, it turns out that the coffins do not necessarily hold their physical bodies but either their souls or some aspects of their life which they want to get rid of.The group continues its difficult journey, with all the travellers exhausted and unable to find food and water. Of course they meet other people, in particular the man who was with Moses and who betrayed Moses. He has been condemned to live in the desert and cannot die
Perhaps inevitably as they are wandering round the desert one of them notices that they seem to be exactly where they were a few days ago.
I found this to be a really excellent hook, completely different from other books with a highly imaginative story. Translator Shelley Fairweather-Vega comments that the book is Allegories positing a postmodern critique of politics and mental health and righteous condemnation of the excesses of Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great. I ,more or less agree with her but would add that it seems to be a combination of lust, particularly lust for power but also sexual lust and by extension of human cruelty and human suffering. However, you choose to interpret it it is a very original book and very well worth reading. And beware of the snakes.
Publishing history
First published in 2013 byTurar, Bishkek
First English translation in 2025 bySyracuse University Press
Translated by Shelley Fairweather-Vega