Konrad and Alexandra (pdf) - Rolf Gross

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things." Alexandra surprised Shalva with her request to attend his soul-calling ceremony. Who had told her? Gocha explained and put in a word for Alexandra. Shalva, still suspicious, grumbled that Niko and Alexandra could attend, but none of the other foreigners. They should come to a house on the outskirts of Ipari at night where someone would pick them up. Nobody should see them or hear about it, otherwise the authorities might try to prevent the ceremony. 270
Calling the Dead Svaneti 1907 The man who picked up Alexandra and Niko led them to a house at the upper end of the village and into a room illuminated only by a few candles. More than twenty people were sitting on the floor surrounding a female bread dough effigy clothed in old rags. Behind the figure sat Shalva enthroned, wearing a paper crown and a heavy coat. A small hand drum rested between his knees. Across from him, in the first circle, sat the relatives of the deceased woman. Alexandra and Niko took a place in the shadows behind the other villagers. They found themselves next to the wives of the natsvali and the teacher. The meeting must not be as secretive as they had been led to believe after all. Shalva must have resented their being outsiders more than he feared the officials. Drumming a slow beat, Shalva sang an incantation in Svani. The teacher’s wife whispered that he was calling the soul of the dead woman. Shalva swayed back and forth. With time his drumming got more hypnotic. Suddenly his voice flipped to a high female pitch. The audience sat spellbound. The husband of the dead woman whispered her name. Mechanically Shalva opened a cage next to him and pulled out a pigeon that dragged a long string on its foot. He tied the string to the effigy and let the bird walk loose in the inner circle. At first the pigeon stood rooted and seemed confused. Shalva began drumming at a higher speed. A sigh went through the audience when the bird shook itself. "The soul has entered the bird," whispered the wife of the natsvali. Shalva in his high-pitched voice addressed the pigeon, urging it on. Someone put a plate with bread crumbs into the circle. The plate slowly passed from one to the other among the woman’s kin. The pigeon followed, picking at the crumbs. As the bird came to the husband, it stopped. The audience held its breath, would it recognize him? Shalva increased his efforts and the pigeon jumped up and fluttered into the husband’s lap. Beyond himself he babbled excitedly calling the bird with his late wife’s pet name. A young woman in the inner circle started to wail loudly. Shalva, eyes closed, mumbled an incantation in his normal voice. The pigeon walked on until it came to the young woman, it fluttered up and landed on the woman’s head. The woman bent forward sobbing and laughing hysterically. The people gasped. "She is the dead woman’s younger sister who wants to marry the widower," whispered the teacher’s wife. "She has been waiting for a whole year." Shalva lured the bird from its perch with his high-pitched spirit voice. It fluttered down and performed a dance, cooing and nodding before the sister of the dead woman. "The spirit of the deceased has accepted the new bride." Shalva called the bird back and put it into its cage, it had done its task. Everyone was relieved. Shalva’s voice returned to normal. Slowly drumming he removed the rags from the effigy and threw them into the fireplace. Then he produced a dagger and mumbling magic formulae, 271
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Konrad and Alexandra The Chronicle
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24.The Dahl's House, Katharina, 190
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One piece of luggage after another
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I sank into a restless sleep and th
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jokes. Fifteen years ago Leist had
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goats, and driven from behind by sh
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two of us." Tiflis 1898 Tiflis and
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comprehension that fortune had sent
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Wine Merchants, Tiflis Bazaar, 1890
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I can never completely shake off vi
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couches. They were given big towels
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Alexandra Dadiani Tiflis 1898 She w
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Dadiani laughed so heartily that Ko
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eally introverted. We love tragedy,
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"Konrad, come and join us, it must
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Chekhov's "Chaika" and Henri the Go
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He handed her the necklace. She str
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curtain. Konrad, raised on the clea
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Henry nodded. "I know what you mean
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"I know you feel overawed by the ta
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Alexandra's Necklace Konrad’s emo
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Georgia on Horseback 1898 Konrad’
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Konrad laughed. "That was exactly w
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came from the desert, a jackal or a
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Around the white cathedral that tow
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The Engagement Konrad and Alexandra
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find the love she needed. He had pu
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The half hour ride took them up a v
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After the dance ended, a deep silen
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Ilia Chavchavadze, Tiflis, 1900 (Wi
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Irakli raised his glass. "Do bury t
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New Year 1899 The jeunesse d’oré
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"May I look at your watch? What is
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possibility of a physical abduction
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well in Telavi, return tomorrow. A
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Alexandra described the sequence of
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It was Easter night. On his last vi
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hoarsely, "Mein Gott, you are right
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sharply. Konrad smiled. "We left he
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that no publisher would touch the m
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The Last Feudal Wedding in Kakheti
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Alexandra sees in me. A remarkably
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Alexandra had phonetically translit
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"Listen my love, try to lie absolut
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over dark waters to an undisclosed
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The Wolfsons Fiesole and Florence 1
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anecdote: my brother studied theolo
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vanishing lines. They are not shown
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Alexandra tried to compare both pai
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Sisakians, she found, disconcerted,
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existed no viable political alterna
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Russian aristocrats are blind or si
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The ball became a great, albeit con
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He was not interested in controllin
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would have fainted." Niko laughed.
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women as you are now. His skill suc
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erated him. Had he not himself said
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Otto's Birth 1900 At four in the mo
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at the height of the contraction sh
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today you look even more gorgeous."
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Alexandra had waited for him and fi
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The Gulf of Finnland near Lisi Nos
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Count Nikolai Prshevalsky had broug
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The entire ground floor had been op
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She finally learned to distinguish
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pouring out of the palais, the elec
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Indian Masters were fabricated by h
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Berlin 1904 Alexandra had received
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pretty women. They are hanging on S
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He pointed at a monument everybody
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Rheinsberg 1904 They traveled by tr
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under Friedrich’s eyes. Friedrich
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off her horse, and embraced her. Ar
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lethargy and got me into this adven
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"Look, I will give you a recipe for
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The Dahl's House Katharina Weisshub
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know in medicine of when these days
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"I urgently need some new clothes a
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They went to the late show in an ol
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irresponsibly than ever. Instead of
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those of Soranus and the plants Ale
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available to the women of the twent
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asked Alexandra with her cool dark
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She glanced furtively at Katharina.
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"You guessed right," she said in Ge
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He switched back to German. "Can on
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"It describes Wagner arriving at th
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the cello, a red rectangle driven b
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Had Herr Schönberg or Herr Webern
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scores? She had not heard either ye
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Fashing Munich 1905 Once a year Dio
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cuirass. The audience watched breat
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They sank into each other’s arms.
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They woke up late next morning. Kon
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Walking on Ice After the cold and f
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in the shadows, and green edges aro
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Germany an alternative. He surely d
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Professor Dahl began to laugh. "I s
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Friedrich and Katharina get married
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Alexandra was the first to notice t
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arena. Aïda in the immense Roman o
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Fiesole 1905 "Walter, we have not s
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Last time Walter had taken her to t
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Alexandra's Time "Friedrich," said
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points I felt the eyes of the Gods
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Meeting Clara Westhoff München and
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"I rented the large dining hall and
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Despite the scarf, Alexandra could
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adoration of her bizarre beauty. Ev
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Page 236 and 237: And her narrow hand in rings. "Ever
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Page 244 and 245: Uncle Muravi's Benz Tiflis 1907 "Ma
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Page 248 and 249: after me. I would have liked to bri
Page 250 and 251: From the very beginning little Soph
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Page 256 and 257: In the evening, alone with Dahl and
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Page 260 and 261: hair and build. Cousin Tamara was t
Page 262 and 263: along, which I will tie to the pers
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Page 268 and 269: The dinner feast became a grand aff
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Page 276 and 277: Adishi Gocha Teaching Dream Work Ad
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Page 282 and 283: Their slightly feminist-tinged conv
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Page 302 and 303: Konrad in China 1911-1912 In Octobe
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Page 312 and 313: Konrad's Return from China St. Pert
Page 314 and 315: which I did not understand. When I
Page 316 and 317: Konrad dug a thick, battered sketch
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Alexandra let out a peal of laughte
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Alexandra's Journey to Munich 1913
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ediscovering the old sympathies. Pe
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Dahl's Examination of Alexandra Mun
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in Svaneti may not have been perman
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"My shadow-soul flies into an embra
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Ever since Claudia’s outbreak in
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A Visit to Kandinsky Murnau 1913 Al
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sexual arousal, dance rhythms, and
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He invited them to dinner in the vi
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any thought to. A group of children
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Petersburg. They will have a simple
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you smile meekly and remain silent.
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herself to sleep. With the last mai
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of his faithful. One night around t
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ead and the resignation of the Empe
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Vladimir gulped down his glass of v
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Their Flight to Georgia May 1918 In
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It was an unreal night, the scare a
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negotiate the bad mountain tracks.
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was very much of her own mind. Meli
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director at the hospital until the
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Kräuterfrau, a herbalist in the Ge
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He paused and took a sip from his g
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German Troops in Tbilisi 1918 - 191
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would crown the tombstone on his gr
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we are late." "Tell me what was you
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adventure on that German ship to Ha
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"Friedrich, who was a very successf
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Alexandra’s diminutive scribble w
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The snotty character in the shaft-b
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final reckoning with Georgia. Withi
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again war was raging behind the mou
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She undid it and let it flow into m
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ut she did not explain why―a Sufi
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weeks among the obscurer Greek writ
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A List of people "Konrad and Alexan
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Sources Little information exists o
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Konrad and Alexandra (pdf) - Rolf Gross

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