Death of the Snake Catcher: Short Stories

by Ak Welsapar

This book features people from one of the most closed countries of today's world, where the passage of time resembles the passage of a caravan through the waterless desert. This world has been recreated by a true-born son of that mysterious country, a Turkmen who, at the will of fate, has now been living for a quarter of a century in snowy Scandinavia. Is that not why two different worlds come together in Ryazan horseradish and Tula gingerbread, to come apart in Love in Lilac, in which a student from the non-free world falls in love with a girl from the West?

In the story Death of the Snake Catcher, an old snake catcher meets one on one with a giant cobra in the heart of the desert. In the dialogue between them the author unveils the age-old interdependence of Man and untamed nature, where the fear and mistrust of the strong and the hopes and apprehensions of the weak change places but co-exist as ever. Egyptian night of fear, in which a boy goes to an Eastern bazaar and falls into the clutches of depraved forces, is created in the writer's characteristic style of magical realism, while the novella Altynai celebrates first love, radiant and sad, pure as virgin snow.

Now mythical, now lyrical, Welsapar's characters face life's injustice with a surprising optimism and fortitude. The intense Asiatic colour not only of nature but of human feelings and relationships, is expressed by the author in striking, expressive language making the reader unable to close the book until the last page.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

183 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 25, 2018

About the author

Ak Welsapar was born in 1956 in the former Soviet Republic of Turkmenistan. He received his Master’s degree in Journalism from Lomonosov Moscow State University in 1979. In 1987, Ak Welsapar became a member of the Soviet Writers’ Association and received his second Master’s degree in Literary Theory from the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute in 1989.

In 1993, after spending a year under house arrest, he was excluded from the Writers’ Association following the publication of some investigative articles about colossal ecological problems in Central Asia, mostly caused by the overuse of pesticides needed for cotton production. The consequences of this were terrible and even resulted in the Aral Sea drying up.

The regime in Turkmenistan declared Ak Welsapar a “public enemy”, and the persecution that he faced began again, with redoubled force. There was a ban on publishing works written by him, whilst his published books were confiscated from bookstores and libraries, to be burnt. To avoid unjust imprisonment and the persecution of his family, Ak Welsapar eventually left Turkmenistan in 1993. He and his family have now been residents of Sweden since 1994, where he is a member of the Swedish Writers’ Association. He has also been an honorary member of the International PEN-Club since 1993. Ak Welsapar writes in Russian, Turkmen and Swedish.

Ak Welsapar has contributed articles to such journals and newspapers as Literaturnaya Gazeta, Druzhba Narodov, Soviet Culture, The Washington Post, and many others. He is the author of more than 20 books but he made his debut as the author of the poetry anthologies Which of Us will Dive Deepest? (1982) and The First Drop (1983). His novel The Melon Head (1984) was awarded a prize in a Turkmen national literature competition. In 2012, The Union of Writers of Russia awarded Ak Welsapar the Sergei Yesenin literary prize. He also received the Nikolai Gogol prize for his book of short stories from the Writers’ Union of Ukraine in 2014.

Most of his novels are banned in Turkmenistan, including, to name but a few: A Long Journey to Nearby (1988), This Darkness Is Brighter (1989), The Bent Sword Hanging on the Old Carpet (1990), Mulli Tahir (1992), The Cobra (2003), The Tale of Aypi (2012).

Ak Welsapar is still a proscribed writer in Turkmenistan and his name has been in the list of black-listed writers since 1990.

from http://www.glagoslav.com/en/Book/46/1...

Reviews

[rieke.reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

CAWPILE: 7.436/10.00
☆-Rating: ☆☆☆☆
(Ratings are made from the average rating of the individual short stories.)

Opinion overall:
First of all, I really enjoyed reading the Foreword by Ann Morgan because I realized, we both picked up Ak Welsapar’s work for the same reason. Reading books from around the world. Additionally, the context given to better understand the stories in terms of inspiration, historical events, and life of the author, helped a lot to truly connect to this collection.
I also want to highlight that the translators did a phenomenal job! I’ve read some translations where a lot of subtleness and commentary is missing, the multitude of meaning forever lost to the reader. However, these short stories have so much character in them and despite their variety still have certain, recognizable style to them that likely is the style of the author.
As with all short story collection some individual stories were better than others, but all in all they were all enjoyable. As I’ve mentioned before there is a big variety within this collection. Different genres and narration styles can be found over the ten stories featured here. The order in which they are presented makes a lot of sense and flows together nicely.
Ultimately, I’m really happy to have stumbled across this collection and intrigued to read more by Ak Welsapar!

But now on to the individual stories!

My Top 3 favourite stories were:
● Love in Lilac (CAWPILE: 9.04/10.00)
● Egyptian Night of Fear (CAWPILE: 8.71/10.00)
● Love Story (CAWPILE: 8.50/10.00)


On the Emerald Shore
translated by Lois Kapila

It’s an interesting – the good kind of interesting - way to start the story out, with this kind of mystery. It definitely got me hooked pretty soon because of the wonderful writing. The writing creates atmosphere and has a subtleness to it that I generally love to see in stories. The length was good too! Not to short, not to long – exactly how a good short story should be.

CAWPILE: 7.54/10.00
☆-Rating: ☆☆☆☆


Love in Lilac
translated by Lois Kapila

Heartbreakingly beautiful and frightening at the same time. I was surprised by how much this story ended up touching me despite (or maybe precisely because of) the brevity of the short story format. Usually, it takes some time for me to truly connect with characters in a romantic setting but this felt so REAL and earnest as if I saw the lilac fields myself, only to be shattered or brought back by the harsh truth of the second half of the plot. Love in Lilac is probably one of my favourite devastating, tragic romance short stories I’ve read so far.

CAWPILE: 9.04/10.00
☆-Rating: ☆☆☆☆✧


Altynai
translated by Lois Kapila

I appreciate what this story talks about: the one that got away. While we read from one perspective, it’s easy to see how the other character feels about the relationship that somewhat didn’t happen. It’s grounded in reality for sure. The characters and their (re)actions feel true to what’s going on with them – may it be societal expectations, their own personality or the tragedies happening around them. It’s a well-written contemporary/literary short story!

CAWPILE: 7.29/10.00
☆-Rating: ☆☆☆☆


The Death of the Snake Catcher
translated by Lois Kapila

A little too long for my taste but I liked the narrative style with the different voices. I loved reading from the Cobra’s POV. It felt truly animalistic and perfectly woven into nature. Great work by the author (and the translator) when it comes to the atmosphere and writing.
As I’ve mentioned before, it was a little too long in my opinion and could have been slightly shorter. But it’s still a good story.

CAWPILE: 7.00/10.00
☆-Rating: ☆☆☆✧


Love Story
translated by Youssef Azemoun

Listen, I love fairy tales! Modern or old, retold or not. It’s one of the easiest ways to get me excited about a story. In Love Story I got those fairy tale vibes almost immediately with the writing capturing the style and fairytale/folktale elements perfectly.
It’s also a great story to read after the previous one which has a similar feeling. Love Story’s big advantage is its length. It’s not too long and comparable to other fairy tales.
All in all, a great short story!

CAWPILE: 8.50/10.00
☆-Rating: ☆☆☆☆


One of the Seven is a Scoundrel
translated by Youssef Azemoun

This one was a slow start for me. It took over half of the story for me to get the situation the characters were in and the second half took a (to me) shocking (not surprising) turn, in terms of the actions and decisions characters had to make. In addition, with the commentary provided in the foreword about this story, I ended up liking it!

CAWPILE: 7.50/10.00
☆-Rating: ☆☆☆☆


Ryazan Horseradish and Tula Gingerbread
translated by Richard Govett

This story made me angry and sad at the same time. It definitely features important themes & topics and is cleverly written. However, I will admit Ryazan Horseradish and Tula Gingerbread is very likely not going to a story that will stay with me for a long time – despite the good parts. It ultimately failed to truly catch my attention 100% and I had to remind myself not to skip sentences.

CAWPILE: 6.14/10.00
☆-Rating: ☆☆☆


The Junkman
translated by Richard Govett

Similar to the story before, The Junkman won’t be the story I will remember the most. It’s still a decent, well-written story but I had some issues to get deeply interested in the plot and noticed my attention wavering away which is unfortunate (and doesn’t have to happen for other readers, obviously).

CAWPILE: 6.00/10.00
☆-Rating: ☆☆☆


Egyptian Night of Fear
translated by Richard Govett

Listen, after two stories that didn’t really grasp my attention, this one hit me immediately. The writing was superb and created a wonderful atmosphere that allowed me as the reader to imagine the character and the setting without any problems. The way the plot progresses here and the blend of genres are just the icing on the cake. It was truly wonderful! I felt the sun on my skin, the shivers down my spine and the fear in my heart.

CAWPILE: 8.71/10.00
☆-Rating: ☆☆☆☆


On the Edge
translated by Richard Govett

A nice story to end this collection on. It’s not my favourite but (again) showcases the writing of the author and his ability and willingness to write from different perspectives. A lot of what I’ve pointed out before can be said here as well: great atmosphere, good characters, interesting plot.
I liked that we had another animal POV in this collection in addition to that of the snake in The Death of the Snake Catcher !

CAWPILE: 6.64/10.00
☆-Rating: ☆☆☆

[Mekan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A magnificent work. The book took me back to the country where I lived and my childhood passed.
In short, the author narrates the disaster within his country with a mystical language.
As I have just learned this, Ak Welsapar is one of the first free authors of Turkmen literature. His books are banned in Turkmenistan, so it makes sense to read :)

[Pamela Samson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my global reading challenge selection for Turkmenistan. A very interesting collection of short stories that mainly focused around daily struggles, growing up, and love in both urban and rural Turkmenistan. It was a diverse style of writing too, with some being more stream of consciousness, two from the POV of animals, and a couple with elements of magical realism. I think the two most intense/captivating ones were the two that highlighted the quiet but ubiquitous control of government - Love in Lilac and One of the Seven is a Scoundrel.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars really. The translations were well done. Welsapar grew up in Soviet era Turkmenistan (now lives in Sweden). The stories are an interesting slices of life in his birth country.

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This recent translation into English of some of Ak Welsapar’s short stories is a rare and welcome opportunity to read a work of fiction from Turkmenistan. Welsapar was born in what was then the Soviet Republic of Turkmenistan in 1956 but fell foul of the authorities in the 1990s and was condemned as a “public enemy”. He has lived in Sweden since 1994 where he has continued to write, although his work is still banned in Turkmenistan. The stories collected here were composed over decades and the subject matter is very different in each one, yet all demonstrate a concern for tradition and modernity, totalitarianism, and the powerlessness of individuals. Some stories are very down-to-earth whilst others have a fable-like quality to them. Most of them are set in Turkmenistan but although firmly rooted in a specific time and place nevertheless have a universal resonance, especially those which deal with state repression. A personal favourite is entitled Love in Lilac, in which a young Soviet university student falls in love with a visiting Swedish girl and is hauled in for a chilling interview with the NKVD. In another a group of harvesters encounter a NKVD patrol which has been tasked with rounding up 10 “enemies of the people”. They need one more, and guilt is not an issue. Only the quota counts. A magic realist element comes to play in Love Story in which a young man’s beloved demands he prove his love by bringing the still beating heart of his mother. Welsapar’s style is measured and low key, but his deceptively straightforward language admirably conveys a profound sense of menace and dislocation, underpinned by great humanity and compassion. It’s a powerful collection, very well translated, and one which offers the reader a window into another world.

[Kirsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a gem from Glagoslav, it's so lovely to have access to literature and voices that were often unreachable in my 20s.  This is an interesting and compelling collection, spanning, it seems, a bit of time and development and focus of the author.  I appreciated both the more straightforward stories and the more metaphorical.  There's something about the carefulness of writers from the second world that's so familiar and almost intuitive to me, that creates a bridge into these stories to let me see how another people navigated the late 20th century in this context.  Really lovely.  Excited to see that they also offer The Tale of Aypi.

[Ella · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very hit and miss, I found that I enjoyed the works translated by Youssef Azemoun the most. My personal favourite short story in this collection is Love Story, a beautiful depiction of a mothers love.

[Bernt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A god book to help us understand the complexitity of a totalitarian regime.

[Kristy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read the first three stories and they were all 2 stars for me. I don't need to read more to know I don't like them.

[Willemijn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The short stories offer an interesting and varied view into the mystery that is Turkmenistan. Some prior knowledge of the country may be useful when trying to understand the nuances in the story, but it would nevertheless be an interesting read.