Pavić wanted the reader to experience the frustration and joy of searching . In a physical book, following a cross-reference requires physical labor: you hold your place with a finger, flip to another page, read, then return. This embodied rhythm mimics the novel’s theme of truth being fragmented across time and memory. A PDF’s Ctrl+F (Find) function destroys this. Instant keyword search turns the labyrinth into a database. You no longer hunt for meaning; you retrieve data.

Most scanned PDFs available online are either the male edition or an unspecified hybrid. Rarely does a PDF preserve the crucial “final” paragraph of the female edition or indicate which one it is. Because a PDF is a static copy of a single physical printing, you lose the novel’s central meta-joke: that the book itself is a character whose gender changes depending on the copy you hold.

If you can find a physical copy (especially the female edition), read that first. Use the PDF only as a portable reference or a backup. But never mistake the shadow for the substance. The Khazar question is not a problem to be solved; it is a mirror to be broken. And you need the right kind of glass to do that.

However, the question of how one accesses this labyrinth—specifically, via a —is not a trivial logistical concern. It cuts to the very heart of what the novel is. To read Hazarski rečnik as a PDF is to engage in a deliberate act of translation, moving from a physical, tactile object designed for non-linear “hunting” to a digital, linear simulacrum. The Architecture of the Book as a Physical Artifact Pavić did not merely write a story; he designed a machine. The physical Dictionary of the Khazars comes in two distinct, irreconcilable editions: the male edition (using the standard 17-letter Latin alphabet) and the female edition (using a 27-letter alphabet with an additional “final” entry). These editions differ by a single crucial paragraph. This gimmick is not a trick; it is a statement about subjectivity and gender as interpretive filters.

Furthermore, the book’s structure is explicitly . It instructs readers not to read from cover to cover but to follow cross-references like a hyperlink: “See also: Dream Hunters,” “See: Atanasije Svilanović.” The physical book thus demands constant flipping, bookmarking, and a kind of embodied memory—knowing where a certain entry lies in relation to another on the page. The PDF: A Tool of Convenience or Distortion? When one downloads a PDF of Hazarski rečnik , several profound transformations occur:

Below is a helpful essay examining the work, its unique structure, and the implications of engaging with it as a PDF. Introduction: A Book That Defies Binding First published in 1984, Milorad Pavić’s Dictionary of the Khazars is often described as the first truly “hypertextual” novel—written before the internet existed. Subtitled A Lexicon Novel , it tells the story of the mythical mass conversion of the Khazar people (a real but lost Turkic tribe) through three cross-referenced dictionaries: one Red (Christian), one Green (Islamic), and one Yellow (Jewish). Each entry offers a conflicting version of the same events.

In print, the three dictionaries are physically separate sections. The Red, Green, and Yellow are bound together but remain distinct, like three different histories stacked in a single volume. A PDF, however, is a continuous scroll. The visual and tactile distinction between the faiths collapses. Scrolling from a Christian entry to a Jewish one feels accidental, whereas turning 150 pages of paper to reach the Yellow section is a deliberate, conscious act of migration.

If you use a PDF, do so with awareness. Resist the urge to use Ctrl+F. Instead, scroll randomly. Jump between sections. Create your own physical bookmarks in your PDF reader. Treat the file not as a convenience but as a challenge: how can you recreate the disorientation of the physical book in a digital space? That is the true test of reading Pavić. The medium is not neutral. And in the case of The Dictionary of the Khazars , the medium—whether paper or pixel—is half the message.

This is a thoughtful request, as Milorad Pavić’s Dictionary of the Khazars (original Serbian title: Hazarski rečnik ) is not a typical novel. It is a groundbreaking work of postmodern literature, and discussing it in the context of a PDF version raises important questions about form, accessibility, and the nature of reading.