Kvachi: A Novel

Front Cover
Dalkey Archive Press, 2014 - 538 pages

This is, in brief, the story of a swindler, a Georgian Felix Krull, or perhaps a cynical Don Quixote, named Kvachi Kvachantiradze: womanizer, cheat, perpetrator of insurance fraud, bank-robber, associate of Rasputin, filmmaker, revolutionary, and pimp. Though originally denounced as pornographic, Kvachi's tale is one of the great classics of twentieth-century Georgian literature--and a hilarious romp to boot.

About the author (2014)

Donald Rayfield is Emeritus Professor of Russian and Georgian at the University of London. In addition to his definitive biography of Chekhov (reissued in Faber Finds), his books include "The Dream of Lhasa: The Life of Nikolay Przhevalsky (1839-88), Explorer of Central Asia "and "Stalin and His Hangmen". His 'superb new translation' (William Boyd - "Guardian") of Gogol's "Dead Souls" was published in 2008.

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