Publisher's Synopsis
"The Flayed Dog" shows us that the human will always be more than an economic unit; that we are not simply creatures that can be moulded by ideologies. This novel seeks out compassion in the most unlikely setting and illustrates the hope that drives mankind to do great deeds despite the external influences, of deprivation, hunger and despair. Vasil, through whom this gritty exposure is delivered, faces and conquers the horrors of the wasteland; the Taiga, and survives spiritually. Vasil is a schoolteacher and desperately needs funds for an operation to save his son's sight. He takes on a task in the Siberian outback in order to earn the 3000 Roubles needed. The climax of this novel is as unexpected as the means by which it is reached. A dark and brooding novel. "The Flayed Dog" is a highly symbolic piece of literature, showing the anti-humanitarian character of society during recent years in Bulgaria. It tells the desperate story of a sensitive, young Bulgarian teacher who gives up his job and goes into Siberian to build a road in the middle of nowhere.;The driving need to earn the 3000 Roubles it will cost to pay for an eye operation to save his son's sight creates this imperative. Despite the cold, hunger and surrounding solitude this prospect keeps him going until he receives a letter from his wife that changes everything. "The Flayed Dog" is a novel that gouges its impression in the opening pages and continues to grip as Vasil, the main character, struggles with his new environment and new colleagues; some of whom hold completely alien values. Facing cold, hunger and hard toil the deprivation experienced threatens to change all that are exposed to this harsh existence. Only drink and Lida, the totally out-of-it camp whore, break the boredom for the men at the camp. As befits the best of modern tragedy it is brutal and shocking with an element of the macabre describing men trying to survive and stay sane while living at the furthest reaches of civilisation under exceptionally cruel conditions. Vasil, despite witnessing all the horror of destitute morality discovers that man can, and will always, find in himself that spark of heart and soul, telling him to do the right thing.;A beautifully written foreword by Aidan Rankin sets this novel in political and sociological context.
