While there are few surviving examples from earlier centuries, the oldest surviving manuscript dates to The epic has as its theme courtly love, knightly comradeship, and heroic quest. It follows two story lines, one about the Indian knight Tariel and his beloved Nestan-Daredjan and the other of the Arab knight Avtandil and his love Tinatin.
Throughout his poem, Rustaveli preaches the underlying principle that justice and righteousness prevail over lawlessness and evil. Vepkhistkaosani combines elements of Christianity, neo-Platonism and Eastern religions into a unique philosophy that breathes with humanistic ideas. Far ahead of its time, the poem calls for individual freedom as well as freedom of thought and emotions and life free of predestination.
Rustaveli demonstrates the influence of the Greek philosophers and cited works of Plato, Proclus, Nemesius, and Dionysius the Areopagite. In medieval Georgia, Vepkhistkaosani was often regarded as one of the most treasured possessions, and, until the 19th century, tradition required brides to bring a copy of it in their dowries. The Eastern provinces were ravaged by the enemy invasions and many priceless manuscripts were destroyed. The Georgian presence in monastic centers abroad also weakened.
Literary work in the 14th century was mostly confined to the copying of old manuscripts. The fall of the Byzantine Empire in dealt a major blow to Georgia, which found itself separated from Christian Europe. The 15th th centuries are distinguished by an upswing of cultural life. Serapion Sabashvili-Kedelauri began writing Rostomiani , a Georgian version of the famous Persian epic Shahname , and his work was completed by Khosrov Turmanidze. Bagrat Mukhranbatoni authored a treatise on Islam, entitled Motkhrobai sjulta ugrmtota ismailita Treatise on the Faith of the Infidel Ismailites , in which he compared Christianity and Islam.
Rusudaniani , one of the most important works heralding the Georgian renaissance, was written in the s and later versified in In , Ioseb Tbileli wrote Didmouraviani , an epic poem of the struggle of Georgian people against foreign threats and the exploits of Giorgi Saakadze.
Donald Rayfield on Researching Georgia, Literature & Politics
In the 17th century, King Teimuraz I, a talented poet fluent in several languages, adapted from the Persian the romances of Leila and Mejnun Leilmajnuniani , Josef and Zuleika Ioseb zilikhaniani and wrote numerous poems, including Tsigni da tsameba Ketevan dedoplisa, Gabaaseba gazafkhulisa da shemodgomisa, Gabaaseba bagisa da ghvinisa, Majama, Tamaris sidze davit garejas, Gremis sasakhle , etc. King Archil also proved himself a gifted writer of such works as Archiliani and Gabaaseba Teimurazisa da Rustvelisa that pulsated with patriotic sentiments. His writings influenced the contemporary Georgian literature and founded a new literary movement of realism martlis tqma.
King Archil also produced treatises on a number of subjects, among them Saqartvelos zneobani, Leqsni asni ormukhlni, Leqsni asdaatni and Leqsni aseulni , and translated several works from Russian. A monarch, scholar and poet, he translated Persian poems and collected and edited many historical works.
On his orders, old manuscripts were sought and copied, important calligraphic schools were founded and new translations and original works appeared. In , he established the first printing press in Tbilisi. In the midth century, David Guramishvili wrote his Davitiani, which included the poem Bedi Kartlisa. King Teimuraz II left a rich literary legacy which includes his famous Dghisa da ghamis gabaaseba, Tavgadasavali, Sasakhlis qeba, Gabaaseba rustaveltan and translation of Timsariani. The period is noteworthy for the work of Bessarion Gabashvili, popularly known as Besiki.
His poems Sevdis baghs shevel, Me mixvdi magas shensa bralebsa, Me shenze fiqrma mimarinda, Shavni shavni and, most of all, Tano tatano and Dedopals anazed remain among the best examples of Georgian romantic poetry. His heroic poetry includes the poems Aspindzistvis and Rukhis omi while his Rdzal-dedamtiliani, Chabua orbelianze and other lyrics reveal his satirical skills. His poetic rhythms and rhymes remain among the finest in Georgian literature and set the standard that the next generations of poets struggled to match.
Timothy Gabashvili, an official at the royal courts, traveled extensively through the Caucasia and Middle East and described his experiences in Mimoslva. Giorgi Avalishvili and David Cholokashvili translated plays from foreign languages and helped develop Georgian dramaturgy. In Tbilisi, Sayat Nova or the King of Songs established himself as one of finest folk singer-songwriters, whose numerous songs described the life and toils of common people in Georgia and the neighboring countries.
- Donald Rayfield, "The Literature of Georgia: A History." | Anthony Anemone - theranchhands.com;
- Emotional and Ethical Challenges for Field Research in Africa: The Story Behind the Findings.
- The Apple of Fortune.
- 250 Cute Names for Cats?
The Russian annexation of Georgia in early the 19th century began a new stage in the history of Georgian literary culture. Ioann Bagration wrote his Kalmasoba, which discussed literary-mythological issues and analyzed Georgian poetry.
The Literature of Georgia: A History, 1st Edition (Paperback) - Routledge
The literary school of Georgian romanticism found full expression in the works of Alexander Chavchavadze, Nikoloz Baratashvili and Grigol Orbeliani. Chavchavadze was fascinated by the ideas of the Enlightenment and translated many works of the French philosophers. His poems, Gogcha, Vai droni, droni, Isminet msmenno, Kavkasia and others, lament the lost past of Georgia while his Sikvarulo dzalsa shensa remains one of the most romantic poems in Georgian literature.
Among his major works are Iaralis, Mukhambazi and Sadghegrdzelo anu omis shemdeg ghame lkhini Erevnis siakhloves.
Despite leaving only some 40 poems and lyrics, Baratashvili is considered the best poet of Georgian romanticism. His ingenuous squib portrayed a complex inner world of the human soul. The feeling of loneliness run thorough his early poems Twilight over the Mtatsminda, , and Reflections on the Kura's Banks, and reached its climax in the poem Lonely Soul In his poems, Baratashvili sang of high moral ideals and sought his own path to improve society.
The poet's struggle against the powers of darkness found expression in one of his best poems, Merani, which has been influential on later Georgian poets. With its mystical vision of future, it also served as a symbol of progress and eternal movement forward. Rune Norheim rated it it was amazing Aug 09, Brandon rated it really liked it Oct 27, David Dalakishvili rated it really liked it Mar 15, Krystyl marked it as to-read Oct 05, Nicholas marked it as to-read Aug 09, Nina marked it as to-read Oct 18, Dominik marked it as to-read Oct 25, Giorgi marked it as to-read Dec 04, Wikimedia Italia added it Dec 31, Kurosh marked it as to-read Feb 14, Luca added it Feb 24, Bre Mccall-teague marked it as to-read Apr 06, Nana marked it as to-read Aug 18, Kathleen added it Aug 18, Paul Bisagni marked it as to-read Sep 29, Hawkeye marked it as to-read Mar 03, Anne Marie marked it as to-read May 25, Dachi marked it as to-read Oct 07, Viktor Hermzmtonga added it Nov 29, One of the main problems is that in Soviet times a lot of very good work was published with terrible cuts from the censor.
Even today, some Georgian publishers reproduce the awful mutilated versions. You have to go to the library and see if you can get the version published before the censors got nasty in the mids. What about in terms of access to archives? In Soviet times, archives always came under the KGB. They gave me all the files from the s when the writers were meeting. What did you discover? And the lights went off, people shot themselves in the middle of the proceedings and so on.
All this had to be copied by hand. I had an enormous stroke of luck: He was probably the only genuine fascist in Georgia and yet he was close friends with Beria. So, information opened up all at once? Yes, the literary ones certainly had free access, and recently the communist party archives.
If ever they get it completely digitalized, then it will be an enormously important [resource]. The problem with Georgians at the moment is that people are doing research, but they tend to be doing research on the medieval periods. For modern times —Soviet history — they tend to concentrate on the church as the church has had an enormous revival in Georgia.
Part of the problem is that the networks were so close that a lot of people today have family who were involved in the Communist Party, or in the secret police: I think writing a history of Georgia at present is something only a foreigner can do. Once the Russian version came out, then more Georgians read it.
Am I right in saying that there was no Georgian-English dictionary before yours? Their big eight-volume explanatory dictionary, which Stalin supported, took that idea, a lot of entries for every verb. Georgian is full of that sort of thing, so it meant that to compile a dictionary we had to have a lot of money, and we had to have the right people.
Navigation menu
We were very lucky with both in that British universities have an arts and humanities research council and the year I applied, dictionaries were obviously in fashion. We were lucky to have one Georgian computer expert, Levan Chkhaidze, who had worked for the Soviet military. What we badly needed to know was all the words that are not in the great eight-volume dictionary but are everywhere else. That dictionary began very carefully because Stalin was watching: