a nutshell: this story, excerpted from a novella about life in a post-Soviet world, focuses on the monetary problems that a young Kazakh woman faces after her dismissal from a teaching post due to the children’s refusal to learn Kazakh
a line: “As we say, if time is a fox, become a hunter.”
an image: at one point, Shynar’s financial difficulties lead her to a job translating for an exhibition of national costumes which in turn led me to look up the Kazakh national dress – feast your eyes
a thought: I followed up this story by reading an excerpt from Aigul Kemelbayeva’s novella The Nanny – the landmark predecessor to Batayeva’s work – and was interested in the similarity of themes (mainly ecomonic woe)
a fact: I discovered Batayeva’s story through this article by Words Without Borders – I am continually indebted to WwB for their work to bring new writing to a global audience
want to read The School? visit here
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