Horsemen of the Sands

Horsemen of the Sands collects two novellas by Russian historian and novelist Leonid Yuzefovich. The novellas address vastly different subjects, tied together by the author's hallucinatory style. "The Storm" follows students and teachers at an elementary school during what begins as an average day but eventually takes unlikely turns. Yuzefovich is skilled at concise characterization, getting across complex psychological profiles in a few paragraphs. He also possesses a welcome sense of humor--a dry, compassionate wit that notes one character's "mature married man's natural, nonbinding interest in a mature married woman."

In the titular "Horsemen of the Sands," Yuzefovich has crafted a mini-epic. It covers a strange historical episode in the early 20th century wherein a Russian monarchist officer, R.F. Ungern-Shternberg, makes a quixotic attempt to revive the Mongol empire and oppose Bolshevik forces. The novella begins in 1971, with a Russian soldier involved in preparations for a possible Chinese invasion on the Mongolian steppe. His conversations with a local named Boliji lead to protracted flashbacks depicting Ungern's increasingly messianic aims, prompted in part by his fanatical devotion to Buddhism. Traveling from village to village, Ungern stages demonstrations where bullets are fired at him point-blank. The "Mad Baron" repeatedly survives, claiming divine protection. Ungern's story ends in tragedy and failure, but his legend persists a half century later, when Boliji and Russian soldiers argue over his legacy. "Horsemen of the Sands" and "The Storm" are both thoughtful reflections on anxieties buried just beneath the surface of Russian society. --Hank Stephenson, bookseller, Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill, N.C.

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