Interview: Breaking the Monolith of Russian-Language Culture: A Conversation with Hamid Ismailov about Multilingualism and Multiculturalism in Post-Soviet Space

Ismailov’s first novel written in Russian was Zheleznaia doroga (The Railway) (1996), which was subsequently translated into English by Robert Chandler (The Harvill-Secker/Vintage, 2006). His first English-written novel was Hostage to Celestial Turks (The First Books, published 2001). It was an experimental text because the protagonist uses his pidgin English to keep a diary to ensure that it is not understood by the people around him. Then, he wrote two novellas in Russian: Mbobo (2009) and Wunderkind Yerzhan (2011), which were translated into English under the following new titles: The Underground by Carol Ermakova (The Restless Book/US, 2015) and The Dead Lake by Andrew Bromfield (Peirene Press, 2014). Ismailov also wrote a few novels in Uzbek, including The Devils’ Dance (2012) and Manaschi (2018), both of which were published on social media due to the ban on his publications in Uzbekistan; both novels were translated into English by Donald Rayfield. Ismailov’s works have been translated into many languages.

This written interview is based on my conversation with Ismailov, which took place online in English as part of the series “Natasha Rulyova’s Conversations with Russophone Authors,” co-organized with Pushkin House, London, on October 24, 2023. The conversation was recorded and can be accessed on the Pushkin House YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXZSGoEx03U. The oral interview was subsequently transcribed and modified in the process of my continued conversation with Ismailov by email. Ismailov has approved the shortened written version of the interview, which is published here.