Ali and Nino, Kurban Said, London: Vintage, 2000. pp237 Ali and Nino was first published in German in 1937 under the pseudonym of Kurban Said. Part autobiography of an unknown writer, part fiction, it recounts the adventures of a young Muslim prince, Ali Khan Shirvanshir and an Armenian Christian princess, Nino Kipiani, who fell in love at school in the oil rich city of Baku, capital of Azerbaijan at the turn of the century. Central to the story is the city of Baku which has molded the youngsters as staunch supporter of their respective communities. At the time the story starts the city of Baku is having a severe identity crisis. At Ali's school the topic of whether the city is Asian or European is hot. The teachers' job is to imbue the "Asian", i.e. Muslim students, with the idea that they belong to a backward civilization and ought to welcome a move forward, towards Westernisation. "Some scholars look on the area south of the Caucasian mountains as belonging to Asia," he tells his class, "while others, in view of Transcaucasia's cultural evolution, believe that this country should be considered part of Europe. It can therefore be said, my children, that it is partly your responsibility as to whether our town should belong to progressive Europe or to reactionary Asia." At Nino's school where Muslim and Christian girls go, "wearing chaste blue dress-uniforms and white aprons," the West has already won the battle: none of the girls, proud of their beauty ("the Georgian girls are the most beautiful in the world") wish to have the veil, seclusion and polygamy imposed on them. When Ali recounts to Nino and her girl- friends the discussion that took place in class and how he had heatedly argued for Baku to remain Asian, Nino rebukes him: "Ali Khan, you are stupid," she tells him. "Thank God we are in Europe. If we were in Asia they would have made me wear the veil ages ago and you could not see me." Tradition and modernity, the first represented by Ali, the second by Nino are therefore waging a war for the souls of the young couple. Ali holds on to the old desert ways while Nino is attracted by the heady atmosphere of a new, richer Baku. Ali however is prepared for the love of Nino to accept her modern thinking. He promises, albeit reluctantly to keep a household similar to that of Nino's parents when they marry. No veil, no harem and Nino will remain in the faith she was born in. Nino is not entirely convinced however that Ali will be strong enough to overcome the difficulties that a mixed marriage involves. She insists: "First of all my father and mother will die of sorrow because I marry a Mohammedan. Then your father will put a curse on you and demand that I become a Mohammedan. And if I do that little father Czar will send me to Siberia because I have betrayed the Christian Faith. And you too because you made me do it." But Ali attempts to convince her that her fears are unfounded: "No Nino, it won't be as bad as all that. You needn't become a Mohammedan, your parents will not die of sorrow, and for our honeymoon we will go to Paris and Berlin and you can look at the trees in the Bois de Boulogne and the Tiergarten." Nino nevertheless has second thoughts but keeps them to herself. Meanwhile the Christian community is not accepting the "misalliance" of their most beautiful princess with equanimity. There are covert manoeuvres taking place to incite Nino's parents to renege on their promise. Ali knows nothing of the intrigues taking place and during the engagement trusts an Armenian old friend to look after his fiancée when he is busy. The Armenian hatches a plan and Nino consents to her "abduction" by this older, very rich merchant who thinks nothing of running away with her despite his lifelong friendship with Ali. Oriental Ali avenges the betrayal and kills his former friend while European Ali spares Nino and takes her back, though she honestly admits to have been a willing partner in the scheme. The youngsters eventually marry and believe that they will live happily ever after. The Russians however are closing in on Baku that they covet for its rich oil reserves. Nino is pregnant and Ali sends her away to Persia promising to join her later. Once alone he understands that he will never accept the surrender of his beloved city, the disappearance of its oriental spirit, of the patrician ways that Islam has imbued it with. Previously he had shunned the war against the Russians as a fight for base interests and therefore beneath him. He had quarreled with his erstwhile school friends who had joined the military and remained aloof as befits a Muslim prince who only takes arms to defend his religion. Now he knows that he has to choose: He can run away to Nino and a life of ease and pleasures or he can save his soul which belongs to old Baku. On the eve of his wife's departure, he joins his comrades on the bridge they are defending and dies at dawn from a battle wound, thinking of Nino and his unborn child. Ali and Nino is a masterpiece of Orientalist literature, complete with eulogy of the simple desert life, proud warriors prancing about on golden horses, opulent and corrupt merchants, family feuds, lots of blood and gore sprinkled with a strong dose of sexism attributed to the teachings of Islam Without detracting from the intrinsic value of the beautifully translated work, the mystery that surrounded its authorship certainly added to its regained popularity some sixty years after it had first been published. Rediscovered in 1970 by chance, it was translated in English for the first time, still without any information about the author. Paul Theroux who reviewed the book when it appeared in English commented: "All that is known of him [the author] is this: he was a Tartar and died in Italy." Thirty years later the reporter Tom Reiss wrote an article for the New Yorker (October 1999) hinting at Kurban Said identity. This was followed by a full investigation which yielded the book reviewed on these pages, The Orientalist, retracing the life and works of the mysterious person behind Ali and Nino. FH
