Georgian writers. Georgian literature

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Many Georgian writers are well known not only in their own country, but also far beyond its borders, especially in Russia. In this article, we will present some of the most prominent writers who have left the most visible mark on the culture of their country.

Classic Literature

One of the most famous writers of the 20th century is the author of novels and epics by Chabua Amirejibi. He was born in 1921 in Tiflis. In 1944 he was arrested for participation in the political group "White George", sentenced to 25 years in prison.

He managed to escape three times, and the last time his forged documents were so good that Chabua became the director of a plant in Belarus. However, as a result, he was again arrested and sent to the camp.

In 1953, Chabua Amirejibi, one of the active participants in the uprising of prisoners in Norilsk, was released only in 1959. In the 90s he was a member of the Georgian parliament, in 2010 he openly accused the regime of President Mikheil Saakashvili. In the same year he took the vows as a monk. Died in 2013. The writer was 92 years old.

Chabua Amirejibi's main novel is "Data Tutashkhia", which hewrote from 1973 to 1975. This is an epic work in which the author drew a reliable panorama of pre-revolutionary Georgian society. Date Tutashkhia - the main character, whose name is the same as the character of Georgian mythology, sets himself the goal of eradicating all evil in the world, but this leads him into conflict with the state and the law. Date becomes an exile.

In 1977, based on this novel, the serial film "Shores" was filmed.

Luki Razikashvili

Another famous Georgian writer and poet is Luka Razikashvili. He was born in 1861 and wrote poems, plays and poems. In literature, he is better known under his pseudonym - Vazha Pshavela.

Vazha began to write in 1881, he wanted to get a higher education in St. Petersburg, but he could only become a volunteer at the Faculty of Law.

The main theme of his work is social and ethnographic. Vazha Pshavela tells in detail about the life and traditions of the highlanders, their customs and way of life.

At the same time, he manages to outline the brewing conflict between the old and the new way of life, which was therefore one of the first to consider. In total, he wrote 36 poems and about 400 poems.

In Russia, his work is well known for the translations of Boris Pasternak, Osip Mandelstam, Marina Tsvetaeva.

Leader of the national liberation movement

Georgian poet and writer Akaki Tsereteli is a prominent thinker, national and public figure. He was born in 1840, all his lifededicated to the fight against tsarism and serfdom.

Most of his works of art have become classic examples of nationality and ideology. The most famous of them are "Imereti Lullaby", "Workers' Song", "Desire", "Chonguri", "Dawn", "Little Kahi", "Bagrat the Great", "Natela". They brought up many patriotic ideals in the Georgian people.

Akaky Tsereteli died in 1915 at the age of 74.

I, grandma, Iliko and Illarion

The author of the novel "I, grandmother, Iliko and Illarion" Nodar Dumbadze is very popular in Georgia. He was born in Tiflis in 1928. He worked in the magazines "Dawn" and "Crocodile", was a screenwriter at the film studio "Georgia-Film".

He wrote his most famous novel in 1960. The novel is dedicated to a Georgian boy named Zuriko, who lives in a small village. The action takes place in pre-war Georgia. The main character is a schoolboy who encounters his first love, then escorts adult fellow villagers to the Great Patriotic War, rejoices at the victory over fascism with those of them who remain alive.

After school, Zuriko enters a university in Tbilisi, but after graduating, he nevertheless returns to his native village to stay with his most faithful and loving friends for the rest of his life. In 1963, the novel was filmed, under the same name it was released at the studio "Georgia-movie".

Nodar Dumbadze died in 1984 in Tbilisi, he was 56 years old.

Canal

In 1880, the future classic of Georgian literature Mikhail Adamashvili was born in the Tiflis province. He published his first story in 1903, and then he came up with a pseudonym for himself. Since then, everyone knows him under the name Mikheil Javakhishvili.

After the October Revolution was in opposition to the Soviet government, was a member of the National Democratic Party of Georgia. In 1923, the Bolsheviks arrested him and sentenced him to death. It was possible to justify Mikhail Savvich only with the guarantee of the Georgian Writers' Union. Outwardly, he reconciled with the Soviet regime, but in reality, relations remained difficult until his death.

In 1930, he was accused of Trotskyism, only with the coming to power of Beria, the new sentence was canceled. Javakhishvili even began to print, and his novel "Arsen from Marabda" was filmed.

His 1936 novel "Women's Burden" was condemned by Soviet ideologists, saying that the Bolsheviks were presented as real terrorists in it. After that, the writer refused to describe the work of the Bolsheviks in pre-revolutionary Georgia to Beria. In 1936, he supported André Gide and was declared an enemy of the people.

In 1937, Mikhail was arrested for an anti-Soviet provocation and shot. Until the end of the 50s, his works remained banned, only after Stalin's personality cult was debunked, the Georgian writer was rehabilitated, and his novels began to be republished.

His most famous novel "Canalia"he created in 1924. It describes how a well-known rogue named Kvachi Kvachantiradze travels around St. Petersburg, Georgia, Stockholm and Paris. He manages to get into the chapel to Grigory Rasputin, the royal palace, take part in the First World War and the Civil War. He paves his way to success and glory through the bedrooms of the first beauties of the Russian Empire and trickery.

The name of the assertive rogue has become a household name, in Georgia he is put on a par with Ostap Bender, Figaro and Casanova.

Georgian science fiction

A bright representative of Georgian science fiction is Guram Dochanashvili. He was born in Tbilisi in 1939. He wrote many novels, short stories, essays. In Russia, he is primarily known for such works as "Song Without Words", "There, Beyond the Mountain", "Give Me Three Times".

The main themes he explores in his books are love, friendship, service to art.

Konstantin Gamsakhurdia

Gamsakhurdia is a famous Georgian philologist and literary historian, writer, born in 1891. After graduating from German universities, he became one of the most influential prose writers of the 20th century.

After studying in Europe, he returned to Georgia in 1921, when the power of the Bolsheviks had already been established here. At first, he was neutral towards the new rulers, but with the growth of Sovietization, the oppression of freedoms and the development of the repression machine, he began to make anti-Bolshevik speeches.

Created an "Academic group" thatcalled for art outside of politics. In 1925, the first novel was published under the title "The Smile of Dionysus", which presents his aesthetic and philosophical views in as much detail as possible. The protagonist is an intellectual from Georgia, somewhat similar to the author himself, who goes to learn life in Paris. In an unfamiliar city, he remains a stranger, cut off from his roots. Soviet critics accused the author of decadence.

In 1924, the anti-Soviet uprising in Georgia was defeated, Konstantin was expelled from Tbilisi University, where he lectured on German literature. In 1926, Gamsakhurdia was arrested and sentenced to 10 years for participating in an anti-Soviet uprising. He served his term in the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp, spent more than a year in prison and was released ahead of schedule.

Gamsakhurdia's creativity

During the years of Stalin's terror, he worked on his main work - a novel about the fate of the artist under the totalitarian system "The right hand of the great master". It was written in 1939.

Events unfold in the 11th century, when, by order of Tsar George I and Catholicos Melchizedek, the Georgian architect Arsakidze was building the Orthodox Church of Svetitskhoveli. The fates of the main characters of the novel are intertwined into a real tragic tangle, both claiming the love of the beautiful daughter of the feudal lord Talakva Kolonkelidze - Shorena. They are torn between feeling and duty. The writer comes to the tragic conclusion that no person can be happy in a totalitarian society. Both heroes come to disappointment and death, they become victimstotalitarian regime, even though outwardly they are on opposite sides of power. In his work, Gamsakhurdia allegorically describes the tragedy of Stalin's rule.

His tetralogy "David the Builder", which he wrote from 1946 to 1958, is devoted to similar topics. Its events unfold in the XII century during the heyday of the Georgian feudal state.

In 1956, in the novel "The Flowering of the Vine", Gamsakhurdia describes the collective-farm peasantry, turning once barren lands into vineyards. In 1963, he completed his memoirs "Communication with Ghosts", which was forbidden to be published, and was published only after 1991.

Lavrenty Ardaziani

The founder of realism among Georgian authors is Lavrenty Ardaziani. It was he who prepared the fertile bud for critical realism in this country.

He was born in Tiflis in 1815, studied at a parochial school, entered the theological seminary, since his father was a priest.

After receiving his education, he could not get a job for a long time, until he received a small clerical position in the Tiflis district administration. In the same years, he began to collaborate with literary magazines, published journalistic articles, translated Shakespeare's tragedy "Hamlet" into Georgian.

His most famous novel was written in 1861, it is called "Solomon Isakich Mejganuashvili". He describes a we althy merchant and a real financial predator. In the novel "Journey along the sidewalks of Tbilisi" realistically talks aboutlife of the city, bullying of officials over ordinary people.

In his polemical articles, he defended the ideas of the "new generation", advocating the development of realism in literature.

Dzhemal Karchkhadze

Karchkhadze is considered by literature researchers to be one of the most significant Georgian prose writers in the 20th century. He was born in the Van municipality in 1936.

Wrote his best works in the Soviet Union in the 80s. In 1984, his novel "Caravan" was published, and in 1987 - "Antonio and David".

Also known as the author of the collections of short stories "Day One", "The Eleventh Commandment".

Rezo Cheishvili

Another Georgian writer to be mentioned in this article is screenwriter Rezo Cheishvili. Scripts for films brought him popularity, for which he received not only people's love and recognition, but also state awards.

In 1977, according to his script, Eldar Shengelaya directed the tragicomedy "Stepmother Samanishvili" about pre-revolutionary Georgia, the next year Devi Abashidze's film "Kvarkvare" was released, in which Cheishvili drew a vivid political satire on the petty-bourgeois pre-revolutionary world.

He received the State Prize for the screenplay for Eldar Shengelia's comedy "Blue Mountains, or an Improbable Story" about a young author who submits his story to a publishing house, but everyone does not print it. This happens due to the fact that everyone there is busy with anything,but not work. The director sits all day on the presidium and spends time at banquets, the editors themselves learn French for some reason, cook dinner or play chess. The young writer's manuscript is read only by a painter who happened to be in the editorial office.

Rezo Cheishvili died in Kutaisi in 2015.