Ali and Nino decades later

When I first read the book Ali and Nino, I found it absolutely fascinating. The narrative, the main characters, the history- whatever it was, the book was a great read. And just recently, it became my reference point for an article I was writing for Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso. 

Through the story of Ali and Nino, I looked at the sense of belonging to Europe in the Caucasus and how this perception changed over time. And here is what came out of it:

"The novel 'Ali and Nino' tells about the love between an Azerbaijani and Georgian teenager. Depicted as symbols of Asia and Europe, they meet in the Caucasus ad there can be united. Almost one century after Ali and Nino was published, can the Caucasus be European and can it be united?

'Some scholars look on the area south of the Caucasus mountains as belonging to Asia, while others, in view of the transcaucasian cultural revolution, believe that this country should be considered part of Europe'

With these words, Professor Sanin frames the issue for his class at the Imperial Russian Humanistic High School of Baku described by Kurban Said (pen name for Lev Nussimbaum) in his famous book Ali and Nino [...] The novel tells a love story of an upper- class Azerbaijani muslim teenager, Ali Khan Shirvanshahir, and a Georgian princess, Nino Kipiani, that evolves in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, prior to the Soviet takeover in 1920. The novel takes its readers on a journey across the Caucasus and on to its wider neighborhood, stretching from the shores of the Caspian Sea to Karabakh and to the mountains of Dagestan, where the two get married. The novel's principle characters continue on to Georgia, Persia and finally end in Baku in the midst of war."

The rest of the article is available here: http://www.balcanicaucaso.org/eng/All-news/Baku-is-it-Asia-or-Europe.