Sasha Sokolov

La generale atmosfera di indeterminatezza che caratterizza le opere dello scrittore risulta essere un espediente da lui consapevolmente ricercato. Tale particolare forma di straniamento da "artificio" diviene vero e proprio soggetto narrativo. In particolare, oltre a portare all’estremo le potenzialità disgreganti del romanzo (in senso bachtiniano), i testi sokoloviani pongono un’importante sfida alle facoltà di orientamento del lettore, spaesato davanti a coordinate spazio-temporali,personali e metatestuali completamente scardinate.

Self-representation of creative process is a common strategy for several samizdat authors, mainly those who approach literary creation from an aesthetic point of view that is very close to the modernist one. These texts are characterized by peculiar features, such as an emphasis on the author himself and his more or less distinct hypostases (the author often becomes the addressee of his own text); by their physicality, bodily nature, evidence of a paper-made, typewritten text; by a focus on underground writers’ community, their interaction, reciprocal role as readers, advisors, co-authors, as well as on the fundamental role of the underground community of readers, which allows to distribute and multiply samizdat texts.

Shehu Danfodiyo established Sokoto Caliphate through strivings to clear innovations, and polytheism out of the Hausaland. He was the first commander of the faithful who received oaths of allegiance from his adherents. After him, successive caliphs followed. Every Caliph had his own specific role which he played. Atiku was the immediate successor of Muhammadu Bello of the Sokoto Caliphate. Atiku was selected after Bello and spent five years and months on the throne. Atiku was born at Dagel and raised during the critical time of the Shehu's cause. He received formal education and had eyes in all sciences of Islam through his family and quasi. He had become a closer of Shehu during all his time. He was the reservoir of Shehu and protector of his secrets. He had performed in all the battles fought by the people of Shehu. His upbringing was a nature with good character and knowledge. A staunch upholder of truth and justice culminated due to his family nature, which earned him trust by Shehu and Bello. During the ill-health of Bello he served as his deputy and after his death he was selected by the Electoral College as substantive Caliph. After coming on board, he formulated and executed many policies to uphold the traces laid by Bello and to safeguard the integrity of the Caliphate. He left no year to pass without performing an expedition to consolidate the Caliphate; his attacks were mainly to clear the Gobirawa of Tsibiri and Maradi, Zamfarawa and Kabawa, who are still against the Caliphate. He ensured the abolishment of plays, singing, drumming and relations. He ensured the upheld of justice by checkmating the activities of the judges and courts and distributing wealth to

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_Unvarnishing Reality_ draws original insight to the literature, politics, history, and culture of the cold war by closely examining the themes and goals of American and Russian satirical fiction. As Derek Maus illustrates, the paranoia of nuclear standoff provided a subversive storytelling mode for authors from both nations--including Thomas Pynchon, Robert Coover, John Barth, Walker Percy, Don DeLillo, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Vasily Aksyonov, Yuz Aleshkovsky, Alexander Zinoviev, Vladimir Voinovich, Fazil Iskander, and Sasha Sokolov." ///// REVIEWS:

"The breadth of Maus's critical reading is impressive and sets his text apart from other treatments of Cold War literature that include Soviet and/or Russian material.[...] Highly recommended."

  -- Brian Diemert, _Choice_ (Dec. 2011) /////

"Maus's study constantly engages in suggestive juxtapositions between American and Russian works that shed fresh light on their narrative practices."

  -- David Seed, _Utopian Studies_ 23.2 (2012) /////

"Maus has read voluminously in his subject, both in the literature and in critical studies [...]. He is to be applauded for his fresh readings of dystopian classics as well as for bringing lesser-known writers into the story.[...] If a reader is looking for a quick survey of Russian and American Cold War fiction, this is it."

    -- Denise Youngblood, _Slavic Review_ 71.3 (Fall 2012) /////

"Maus’s analysis of the individual texts will give the reader new ways of thinking about them. Historians who work on the cultural history of the era will no doubt want to consider the insights he offers into the language and philosophy of satirical fiction."

  -- Mara Drogan, _Cold War History_ 13.2 (2013) /////

"On the US side, the closest analogy to the totalitarian system is the totalizing drive of certain languages—anticommunist, mediatic-consumerist, bureaucratic, technologically utopian—chiefly in the American 1950s and then again in the 1980s [...] To be sure, none of these coalesce into the langue de bois (the “wooden tongue”) that all but takes over public discourse in the East, nor do they enjoy the logistical and institutional backing afforded by the Kremlin apparatus, Pynchonian paranoia notwithstanding. And yet, Maus is right: the satire of mainstream, institutional, or 'official' idioms is one kind of literature that formally and thematically can be said to bring together—and thus render comparable—writers from saliently different systems."

  -- Christian Moraru, _American Literature_ 85.2 (June 2013)

The article focuses on the ways through which Russian contemporary writer Sasha Sokolov conveys a general idea of indeterminacy in his works. If defamiliarization, in Shklovsky&#39;s terms, is the basis of poetic language, in Sokolov&#39;s text this technique lies at the basis of both form and content. In this sense, Sokolov overcomes the &quot;dictatorship&quot; of the plot (the &quot;What&quot;) in literature, electing the &quot;How&quot; as aesthetic principle able to structure and organize literary texts.

*Corresponding Author:
Yusuf Sarkingobir

Article History
Received: 03.04.2021
Accepted: 07.05.2021
Published: 12.05.2021

Abstract: Sokoto Caliphate was a famous formation established by the Fulani Jihadists and their Hausa supporters in the Hausaland and environs, which led to the revival of the Hausaland traditional hegemony system and polity of Islam. Later, the British invaded the region and colonialized it. Still, the system laid by Usman Danfodio is unavoidable. The actors in this Danfodio system contributed hugely in the development using their traditional powers. One of the famous grand-scions of Usman Danfodio was the Sarkingobir Gwadabawa Abdurrahman MFR (who lived circa in 1903-1968 A.D.). Abdurrahman was from the Atikawa branch, popularly known for education and lerdership shrewdness. He obtained Islamic and Western education accordingly. He started representing Gwadabawa in the aspects of hegemony as early as 1916. Later in 1927-1931, Abdurrahman was turbaned as the Sardauna of Sokoto. In 1931, Abdurrahman was crowned as the Sarkingobir Gwadabawa, District Head of Gwadabawa, and a more important post than the Sardauna of Sokoto. During the reign of Abdurrahman as Sarkingobir Gwadabawa he recorded many achievements. He ensured the transmogrification of Illela bush to a town. He ensured many contributions in the development of Gwadabawa District and Illela. Many years after the demise of Abdurrahman, in 1989, Illela city became local government to be continually headed by Muhammadu Zayyana (Sarkingobir) as part of his Gwadabawa domain. In 1997, Muhammadu Tukur, son of Sarkingobir Abdurrahman was appointed as substantive district head of the whole Illela region disgorged from Gwadabawa. In 2020, Muhammadu Tukur was succeeded by his son, Buhari Tukur as district head of Illela region.
Keywords: Gwadabawa, District Head, Caliphate, Education, rural roads, peace, Sarkingobir Gwadabawa Abdurrahman, Illela district.

Sasha Sokolov’s short graphic composition Duende (“Zerkalo” 2006) is more than a personal and overt homage to the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca; it witnesses a deeper poetic and ‘spiritual’ connection between the two authors. Although unexplored by critics, references to Lorca can be traced in different literary works by Sokolov. The Spanish poet has always represented a source of reference and a model throughout Sokolov’s literary lifetime.