Georgia through the eyes of Russian poets and writers. Myths about Georgia in Russian culture §3. Georgian literature

Literature is the thoughts, aspirations, hopes and dreams of a people. The art of words, which can both wound, offend and crucify, and elevate, give meaning and make happy.

1. Guram Dochanashvili

Guram Dochanashvili is one of prominent representatives modern Georgian prose. Born in 1939 in Tbilisi. He owns stories, novellas, novels, essays. The Russian reader is familiar with Dochanashvili from the books “There, Behind the Mountain”, “Song Without Words”, “Only One Person”, “A Thousand Little Cares”, “I Will Give You Three Times” and other works. Guram Dochanashvili’s books are odes to love, kindness and sacrificial struggle; they have been translated into many languages ​​of the world and have repeatedly formed the basis of many films and performances.

The novel “The First Vestment” is the pinnacle of Guram Dochanashvili’s creativity. It is written in the style magical realism and is close in spirit to the Latin American novel. A fusion of utopia and dystopia, and in general - about a person’s search for a place in this life and that the true price of freedom, alas, is death. The novel can be parsed into quotes. Unfortunately, Guram Dochanashvili’s later works have not been translated into Russian.

2. Aka Morchiladze

Aka Morchiladze (Georgi Akhvlediani) is a famous Georgian writer living in London. Born November 10, 1966. In 1988 he graduated from the Faculty of History of Tbilisi University. Author of many novels and short stories, five-time laureate of the Georgian literary prize"Saba." Based on the works and scripts of Aki Morchiladze, such famous Georgian films as “Walk to Karabakh” and “Walk to Karabakh 3”, “I Can’t Live Without You”, “Mediator” were shot.

Often Aka Morchiladze creates works in detective genre. And for this reason, critics often compare him with Boris Akunin. However, in parallel with his experiments in the genre of historical detective fiction, he also writes novels about modernity. They are talking about something completely different: about a new type of relations in society, about elitism, snobbery and teenagers. In Morchiladze’s books one can often find stylization of the modern manner of speaking of Georgian society, as well as the argot and jargon of modern colloquial speech Georgia.

3. Nino Kharatishvili

Nino Kharatishvili is a famous German writer and playwright from Georgia. Born in 1983 in Tbilisi. She studied to be a film director, and then in Hamburg - to theater director. As the author of plays and leader of the German-Georgian theater group, about Us early years attracted attention. In 2010, Kharatishvili became the laureate of the Prize named after. Adelberta von Chamisso, which honors authors who write in German and whose work is affected by cultural change. Nino Kharatishvili is the author of many prose texts and plays that were published in Georgia and Germany.

Her first book, Der Cousin und Bekina, was published in 2002. She collaborated with various theater troupes. Currently a regular contributor to German Theater in Göttingen. “When I’m in Georgia,” says Nino Kharatishvili, “I feel in highest degree German, and when I return to Germany, I feel like an absolute Georgian. This, in general, is sad and creates certain problems, but if you look at it differently, it can also be enriching. Because if, by and large, I don’t feel at home anywhere, then I can build, create, create my own home everywhere.”

4. Dato Turashvili

David (Dato) Turashvili is a writer, playwright and screenwriter. Born on May 10, 1966 in Tbilisi. The first collection of Turashvili's prose was published in 1991. Since then, 17 original books have been published. Currently, Turashvili’s works have been published in seven languages ​​in various countries. In particular, the novel “Escape from the USSR” (“Generation of Jeans”) became a bestseller in Georgia, becoming the most popular work in the country over the past twenty years. This book was reprinted in Holland, Turkey, Croatia and Italy and Germany. The novel is based on real events: in November 1983, a group of young people in Tbilisi attempted to hijack a plane from the USSR.

As a playwright, David Turashvili worked with the world famous Georgian director Robert Sturua. Twice awarded the prestigious literary prize of Georgia “Saba” (2003, 2007).

5. Anna Kordzaia-Samadashvili

Anna Kordzaia-Samadashvili is a well-known author in Georgia of many books and publications (“Berikaoba”, “Children of Shushanik”, “Who Killed the Seagull”, “Rulers of Thieves”). Born in 1968 in Tbilisi, a graduate of the Faculty of Philology of Tbilisi state university. For the last 15 years, Korzdaya-Samadashvili has worked as an editor in Georgian publications, as well as a correspondent in Georgian and foreign media.

Anna Kordzaia-Samadashvili is a two-time winner of the prestigious Georgian literary award “Saba” (2003, 2005). In 1999 she was awarded the Goethe Institute Prize for the best translation of the novel “Mistresses” by Nobel Prize winner, Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek. Her collection of stories “I, Margarita” was included in the list in 2017 best works women authors in the world according to the New York Public Library.

6. Mikhail Gigolashvili

Mikhail Gigolashvili is a Georgian writer living in Germany. Born in 1954 in Tbilisi, he graduated from the Faculty of Philology and graduate school at Tbilisi State University. Candidate of Philological Sciences, author of studies of the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky. Published a number of articles on the topic “Foreigners in Russian Literature.” Gigolashvili is the author of five novels and a collection of prose. Among them are “Judaea”, “The Interpreter”, “Ferris Wheel” (readers’ choice of the “ Big Book"), "The Capture of Muscovy" (shortlist for the NOS Prize). Since 1991 he has lived in Saarbücken (Germany), teaching Russian at Saarland University.

This year his novel Secret year» became a winner of the Russian Prize in the category “Large Prose”. It tells about one of the most mysterious periods of Russian history, when Tsar Ivan the Terrible left the throne to Simeon Bekbulatovich and secluded himself for a year in the Alexandrovskaya Sloboda. This is a current psychological drama with elements of phantasmagoria.

7. Nana Ekvtimishvili

Nana Ekvtimishvili is a Georgian writer, screenwriter and film director. Born in 1978 in Tbilisi, a graduate of the Faculty of Philosophy of Tbilisi State University. I. Javakhishvili and the German Institute of Cinematography and Television named after. Konrad Wolf in Potsdam. Nana's stories were first published in the Tbilisi literary almanac "Arili" in 1999.

Nana is the author of short and full-length films, the most famous and successful of which can be called “Long Bright Days” and “My a happy family" Ekvtimishvili made these films in collaboration with her director husband Simon Gross. In 2015, Nana Ekvtimishvili’s debut novel “The Pear Field” was published, which received several literary awards, including “Saba”, “Litera”, the Ilya University Prize, and was also translated into German.

8. Georgy Kekelidze

Georgy Kekelidze is a writer, poet and TV presenter. His autobiographical documentary novel “Gurian Diaries” has been an absolute bestseller in Georgia for the last three years in a row. The book has been translated into Azerbaijani and Ukrainian, and will soon be published in Russian.

At 33 years old, Kekelidze is not just a fashionable writer and public figure, but also the country's chief librarian. Georgiy Kekelidze heads the Tbilisi National Parliamentary Library and is also the founder of the Book Museum. A native of the Georgian city of Ozurgeti (Guria region), Georgiy is the winner of almost all Georgian literary awards in Georgia. The foundation of the first Georgian electronic library. Kekelidze also constantly travels around the regions of Georgia, restoring rural libraries and helping schools with books and computers.

9. Ekaterina Togonidze

Ekaterina Togonidze is a young novelist, television journalist and lecturer. Born in Tbilisi in 1981, she graduated from the Faculty of Journalism of Tbilisi State University. I. Javakhishvili. Worked on the First Channel of the Georgian Public Broadcaster: presenter information program“Vestnik” and the morning edition of “Alioni”.

Since 2011, she has been published in Georgian and foreign publications and magazines. In the same year, her first collection of stories, “Anesthesia,” was published, which was awarded the Georgian literary prize “Saba”. Ekaterina is the author of the novels “Another Way”, “Listen to Me”, the short story “Asynchron” and others. Ekaterina Togonidze's books have been translated into English and German.

10.Zaza Burchuladze

Zaza Burchuladze is one of the most original writers of modern Georgia. He also published under the name Gregor Samsa. Zaza was born in 1973 in Tbilisi. Studied at the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts. A. Kutateladze. The first publication was the story “The Third Candy”, published in 1998 in the Tbilisi newspaper “Alternative”. From that time on, he was published in the newspaper “Alternative” and in the magazine “Arili” (“Ray”).

Separate publications by Zaza Burchuladze - a collection of short stories (1999), novels “The Old Song” (2000), “You” (2001), “Letter to Mom” (2002), the story “The Simpsons” (2001). Zaza's latest works include the novels Adidas, Inflatable Angel, Mineral Jazz, and the collection of short stories Soluble Kafka.

About the moth's honeymoon and its daily bread.

Push.
This is a wonderful article by Shota Iatashvili, published in the Journal Hall in 2003.
I will gladly take the chance to introduce everyone interested in Georgian literature. At least in fragments. And thanks to Shota for his titanic work.
The article mentions truly great authors of Georgian prose, whose name is well-known even among Russian-speaking readers. But the more interesting will be the names of purely Georgian writers.

Fragments of the mosaic of new Georgian prose

A new stage of formalistic experimentation and ideological renewal began in Georgian prose in the 1990s, so we will focus on this period of time. As a rule, new trends are found in works younger generation, which is quite natural. Based on this, the main focus of our attention will be young authors. Another thing is that often these experiments are interesting as original ideas, but their artistic embodiment is not of a very high level, judging by modern standards. At the same time, the old masters continue to write at a high level, but are not updated either ideologically or in form. This, however, does not apply to everyone, and therefore, from the “products” of the older generation, we will highlight texts that fit into the context of the era.

Of course, in modern Georgian literature there are interesting authors who stay afloat, and it would be appropriate to start the conversation with them. Diagnostics of new methods and literary technologies with the help of which they attract the reader’s attention will provide an opportunity to talk about authors who are not so promoted, whose experiments and ideas are no less (if not more) important for new Georgian literature.
1.
Among the younger generation, the most popular prose writer today is Aka Morchiladze(b. 1966). He has already published at least a dozen novels and collections of stories, and they are, by today's modest Georgian standards, bestsellers. Aka Morchiladze writes works of two types.
The first is a stylization of Georgian life and language of the 19th and early 20th centuries. In these texts, he successfully creates his own mythology of the city of Tbilisi, using, among other things, purely postmodernist methods. For example, in the most famous (and probably the best) novel of this type, “Flight to Madatov and Back” (1998), he introduces gendarmerie colonel Mushni Zarandia, one of the main characters from the novel, into the detective line Chabua Amirejibi“Data Tutashkhia”, and in another hero - the artist Hafo - it is easy to recognize Sergei Parajanov.

Aka Morchiladze very often he creates his works in the detective genre. It is no coincidence that critics compare him with Boris Akunin. But to attribute success only to the popularity of the genre would, of course, be wrong and unfair. And it is not yet known which of the works brought Morchiladze great popularity. The fact is that in parallel with experiments in the genre of historical detective fiction, he also writes novels about modernity. They are talking about something completely different: about a new type of relations in society, about elitism, snobbery, about teenagers. The manner of conversation, argot and jargon are also stylized to some extent, and often we are not dealing with a fixation of modern Georgian colloquial speech, but with its artistically sharpened clarification. In the latest novel, “Down with the Corn Republic” (2003; this title is borrowed from the novel Konstantin Lordkipanidze 30s of the twentieth century) - Aka Morchiladze tried to show some profitability in this area: as you know, over the last two hundred years or so, many Russian words have entered Georgian speech in a distorted form. Slang speech is especially heavily diluted with Russian borrowings. But in Lately has begun new process like: English is being introduced into spoken language. The beginnings of the new jargon were well captured by Morchiladze. His novel takes place in London. The text is supposedly translated from English into Georgian, and due to poor translation, the speech of Georgian emigrants is overloaded with Anglicisms. I very much doubt that this is how Georgian emigrants communicate with each other today; rather, based on political and sociocultural trends, the writer tried to look into the future of Georgian colloquial speech.

Zurab Karumidze(b. 1957) are often mentioned in conjunction with Morchiladze when talking about stylizations. In principle, he started doing this earlier than Morchiladze, but due to the specifics of his stylizations, he did not become a popular author. The hallmark of his work is modernism of the Joycean type, and one might even say that his last novel, “The Darkened Sea” (2000), is an attempt to write a Georgian “Ulysses.” A person moving in the artistic and elite circles of Tbilisi, reading this text, will recognize many people. If you look deeper, the writer’s desire to create a cultural picture of the city at the end of the century (and our native Tbilisi, and the City in general) becomes obvious. Writing method Karumidze here is adequate to the creation method piece of music, That's why story line often lost, it is secondary. Sound design, rhythm, etc. come to the fore. — Karumidze knows how to revive archaisms, his language is expressive. At the same time, this text is very (maybe even too) intellectual, overloaded with quotes and reminiscences.

“Stylist” of a newer generation, David Kartvelishvili(b. 1976), in many ways can be compared with Aka Morchiladze, but there are also many significant differences between them. If we talk about writing technique, Kartvelishvili’s distinctive feature is minimalism, the capacity of a phrase, and montage. Like Morchiladze, he creates stylizations of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but also describes modern life and customs. But no matter what times he wrote about, his texts are always illuminated with some amazingly pure, true sentimentalism and sincerity. Recently, it seems, he has taken “radical measures” - he began to write stories marked by Christian (more precisely, Orthodox) ethics, which falls out of the existing literary context. His collection of short stories “Diaries for Miranda” (2003) is a vivid and highly artistic confirmation of this.

Novel Diana Vachnadze(b. 1966) “Nata, or New Julia” (2003) can be considered the first example of non-linear prose in Georgian literature. Already from the title it is clear that this epistolary novel is an attempt to recreate the problems and themes of Rousseau’s novel. It begins with a letter from Nata to her boyfriend Leo. She writes it on the plane half an hour before landing in New York. At this moment, Nata realizes that the distance between her and Leo is rapidly growing and sexual intimacy with him is impossible. She begins to have a mental crisis, which her friend calmly analyzes. But soon he too falls into severe depression. The correspondence gradually acquires diaries, dream notes, essays (for example, Baudrillard’s essay “Death in Venice” is included in the novel), etc. The text becomes multidimensional. The language of the novel is also heterogeneous: a stylization of Rousseau’s manner, an exaggerated pretentious style and poetic prose, a parody of cultural texts overloaded with terminology, and in addition, slang, which changes in different linguistic layers, mimics, “getting used to” the next stylistic situation. In addition, the corpus of the novel includes six reviews of it. The fact is that, starting in 1999, the novel was published as it was written in the newspaper “Alternative”. Critics responded to the unfinished novel with reviews - they were published in the same newspaper. These reviews influenced the development of the work. It got to the point that one of the reviewers became a character in the novel, and the main characters - Nata and Leo - began to use the critics' arguments in their reasoning. In its completed form, the novel can be read in different ways: first the main body, and then the reviews, or everything in a row, together with the reviews, to follow how the relationship between the main author and the critics developed, how they created this text together.

In the 19th century, the division of art into genres became intensive. This process became widespread in the twentieth century, and by the end of the century, genre differentiation was virtually completed. The genre spectrum was also enriched by cinema, which introduced such genres as “action”, “horror”, “thriller”, etc. into literature. Genre art in our time is, by and large, a craft, but at the same time, genre polyphony has become very impressive. This is probably what led some artists to the idea that by manipulating genres, these fossilized structures could be revived and a new organism could be created from them. From the very beginning, the approach of the “manipulators” was ironic. More precisely, the approach to the reader, a fan of a particular genre, was ironic: for example, the work began as a detective story, but little by little the detective plot disappeared, and the surprised reader discovered that he was reading pure erotica. Erotica was replaced by science fiction, then the detective story returned, etc. until the end of the work. Compositionally, this is exactly how one of the best examples of genre eclecticism, the novel, is constructed American writer Charles Bukowski “Waste Paper” (1994). This technique is also used in the novel “The Honeymoon of the Moth” by the Georgian writer Marciani (b. 1953), published in 2003, but written 20 years ago - in 1982-1983.

In the world literature of those years, it would probably be difficult to find a text that so conceptually and purposefully embodied the formal method as Marciani’s novel. This is especially true for Georgian literature. Someone will remember “Water(po)loo” Guram Dochanashvili, where there are signs of a “genre compote”. But we can say with confidence that this idea was fully realized in Georgia Marciani.

In realistic passages, this novel is electrified by the light eroticism of existence. In fantastic fragments this eroticism becomes actually “obscene,” but in the fantastic areola its “obscenity” is neutralized. Marciani works on the verge of kitsch when he uses the practice of surrealism. When dealing with a “genre compote,” it is no longer inappropriate to ignore kitsch as a common denominator of genres—this is the author’s position. Generally a novel Marciani— a collection of archetypes with an original modernization of mythology and folklore themes.

Marciani- from Kutaisi, I note this because this city does not cease to “supply” renovators of Georgian literature and the innovative spirit in it has not died out. After such prose writers as Rezo Cheishvili And Rezo Gabriadze, best representatives next generations due various reasons less visible in the literary arena. But they continue to create texts that, I am sure, will have a noticeable impact over time. literary process. Among these authors we must name Tsira Kurashvili (b. 1962). In her texts, it is especially worth noting the story “Don’t Look Back!” (2001) - shows the unbearable socio-political situation in the Georgian province in recent years. This is done with rare inner openness and expression. The main feature of her writing style is the use of a stylized Imeretian dialect to achieve greater intensity in the narrative. Such a move is rarely seen in Georgian literature, where the dialect is usually used as humorous coloring ( N. Dumbadze, R. Cheishvili and etc.). Such precedents can be found in Georgian prose of the early twentieth century, when the Mingrelian dialect served K. Gamsakhurdia and D. Shengelaya for the emotional load of the text. In this regard, the novel should be especially noted Demny Shengelaya“Sanavardo.”

Since the conversation turns to the use of dialect, you should definitely remember Beso Khvedelidze(b. 1972). He goes further in his experiments: his characters are native Tbilisi residents, busy with civil affairs and reflecting on current and eternal themes, — for some reason they speak in some strange dialect, similar to Kakheti. Such incompatibility makes it possible for the author to show the underside of the characters’ souls, their internal problems. At all Beso Khvedelidze is a very prolific author, he is not focused on any one topic or style. This author has a wild imagination, so the characters in his stories look more like phantoms and do not fall under known psychological schemes.

Georgian literature has always had taboo and sacred topics, and today, when young authors turn to them, it often causes a public scandal. A year ago, the biggest scandal of recent years broke out. At the center of it was the story Lashi Bugadze(b. 1977) “The First Russian” (2002). It tells about the first wedding night of Queen Tamara (she is now considered Georgian Orthodox Church canonized) with Prince Yuri Bogolyubsky, who, as is known from Georgian historical chronicles, was a bestiality. But one thing is dry information lost in chronicles, and the other is its artistic description. Many Georgians took this story as an insult. It is likely that if it is translated into Russian, among Russian readers there will be those whose national pride will be hurt and who will try to explain the author’s intentions with political considerations. But I don’t think that when the author wrote this text, he was thinking about shocking, about scandal. U Bugadze the best stories are those that have been reworked biblical stories, historical events, etc. (for example, his story “The Box” is about Noah’s Ark, his story “The Tree” is about Jesus’ donkey). He constantly works in this area, and the story “The First Russian” was no exception in this sense. On the other hand, the author still realized that he was being pushed to such an act by “satanic forces,” and expressed his attitude to the plot of the work in its form: the story should be read from end to beginning, starting from the 5th chapter and ending with the 1st chapter. th, i.e. the reader must leaf through the text reverse order. And, as the author says at the beginning (i.e. at the end) of the story, it is written this way because “everything contrary is from the devil” (Georgian proverb, which can be translated into Russian as “everything unrighteous is from the evil one”).

In modern Georgian literature there is a writer who is consciously oriented towards literary radicalism - this is Zaza Burchuladze(b. 1973), who at the first stage of his work published under the “Kafkaesque” pseudonym Gregor Samsa. He strives to talk about those things that it was not customary to talk about in our literature before. The Simpsons novel is based on the problem of homosexuality. But the characters of the famous animated series “The Simpsons” are concerned about this problem. The multiplicity and phantom nature of the characters makes the intonation ironic and the action grotesque. At the same time, the text is permeated, perhaps, with a somewhat deliberate, but still some kind of aggravated pain.

In the novel “Letter to Mother” (2002) main character writes to his mother from Tbilisi to Baku and openly talks about his intimate problems, starting from childhood. Nowhere is this stated directly, but it is felt that the mother is to blame for these problems. The premonition turns out to be correct, however, what happens at the end of the novel is completely unexpected - the hero insults his mother, scolds and curses her, and at the end of the last letter he puts a large black dot, which is a poop dot.

Modern Georgian literature is quite strongly focused on destruction, perhaps this is just a reflection of modern reality, a reaction to it. But often this is done to attract the attention of readers and is not determined by the internal needs of the text. In this context, the role of authors bringing positive energy and spirituality, whose texts explore eternal themes, is increasing. In this regard, it is worth mentioning once again the Orthodox literary modernity David Kartvelishvili. I want to complete the inspection of the “new” ones as a servant of Lord Krishna Aleko Shugladze(b. 1965).

Recently, texts “made” using Buddhist, Zen Buddhist, Sufi, etc. have appeared in Georgian literature. practitioner But one gets the feeling that the appeal to these spiritual practices is for the sake of exoticism and fashion; the texts themselves are very superficial. You can't blame me for anything Shugladze. He “adjusts” the Eastern style of thinking to the Western style of writing. The story “Answers to a small-circulation publication” (1997) is one of the best in prose of the 90s. A character who considers himself Manuel suddenly discovers that everyone around him calls him Daniel, and falls into a passion. The hero begins to claim that he is Manuel. Accordingly, his family members, friends and the whole world fiercely prove to him that he is Daniel - and the entire story is structured as a development of this conflict. Both sides discover great talent speculative thinking. Both sides manage to counter the opponent’s strong arguments with logically and psychologically convincing counterarguments. Agree, this is a very original literary device for showing a split personality, thanks to which the story avoids being schematic. On the contrary, it acquires existentiality and metaphysics, which is often lacking even in our good literature.

2. Let's move on to the older generation.

Patriarch of Georgian literature, author of more than 20 novels, wonderful storyteller and unique stylist Otar Chkheidze(b. 1920) throughout his career carries out a project that would seem beyond the capabilities of a modern writer: he strives to become an artistic chronicler of Georgia in the 20th century. He moved purposefully, and gradually the interval between the year the new work was written and the events reflected in it shortened. Accordingly, documentary increased, and fiction became more and more subordinate to this documentary, becoming its literary coloring. In the 90s Otar Chkheidze“matched up” with chronology and went side by side with time with his novels. I had to write about modern Georgia during very difficult years: the civil war, the overthrow of Gamsakhurdia, lawlessness, the return of Shevardnadze... Otar Chkheidze followed these events, described them, starting with the novel “The Artistic Revolution”. The characters in the novel included members of parliament, ministers, public figures... But the writer did not limit himself to a documentary description of events. Using grotesque, journalistic pathos, he directly expressed his political position and my attitude towards all the characters written from life. And it is not surprising that after the release of each of his novels, a scandal erupted. The prototypes of many characters felt insulted and expressed their indignation. Of course, when a writer stands on some political platform, this can make his works more or less biased. How accurate and ethical was Otar Chkheidze in their assessments - this will still have to be debated, but from a literary point of view, Chkheidze’s latest novels are undoubtedly phenomenal: such a synthesis of documentary (one might even say hyper-documentary) and artistic fiction, in my opinion, has never existed before in Georgian literature.

Chkheidze finished his project, becoming an artistic chronicler of the 20th century, and took on the 21st century. His latest novel, “2001,” as the title suggests, describes the events of 2001. One of the active characters in it is Mikheil Saakashvili, the creator of the “Rose Revolution” and the current president of Georgia. I wonder if “2003” will be written and how it will be described famous events in this work? In any case, it will turn out to be very interesting and useful for Georgian literature. And I am sure that readers are looking forward to such a work.

Another classic of Georgian literature, Otar Chiladze (b. 1933), with his novels traveled approximately the same road as Otar Chkheidze. In the sense that he, too, was gradually approaching an artistic understanding of modernity. Chiladze started from afar: his first novel “A Man Walked Along the Road” described mythological Georgia. Then the writer made a leap into the 19th century, the beginning of the 20th century, etc., until in his fifth novel “Avelum” (1993) he reached the present day. Avelum caused controversy unlike any of his previous novels. Some thought new novel the pinnacle of his creativity, others - failure. The reason was precisely that he turned to modernity for the first time and not quite the “ordinary Chiladze” appeared before the readers.

The novel describes the events of 1991-1992, but the main body depicts the Soviet period, the so-called Soviet intellectual, the Soviet writer, who in reality is neither a Soviet intellectual nor a Soviet writer, but also not an obvious anti-Soviet element. It seems to me that writing this text for Chiladze was an existential act. For a writer who finds himself in new era, in a new society and in a new mental space, it became a matter of life and death to probe the past life and evaluate it in the system of such absolute categories as freedom, love, courage. Otar Chiladze managed to do this: he created a generalized image of the Soviet intellectual - his contemporary. The novel’s end-to-end model is remarkable: the “empire of love” built by Avelum as a counterweight to the Soviet empire. The most radical manifestation of freedom for him is the creation of an “empire of love” and the presentation of himself as its emperor.

The aesthetics of the novel changes dramatically when the author begins to describe the years of the national movement and the civil war. Here, as an artistic device, Chiladze uses the loud language of the press and typical slogans. I think such an “avant-garde” turned out to be inorganic for Chiladze. The installation of newspaper clippings does not reflect the full range of emotional and psychological moods of that time. Multidimensional “Soviet characters”, passing into the post-Soviet period as types of newspaper cliches and collages, become flat and straightforward.

After “Avelum” a novel was published in 2003 Chiladze“Godori.” It also paints a portrait of a “Soviet writer.” But the main character of Godori, Elizbar, can no longer build his “empire of love” and live in illusions. His family includes a descendant of Kasheli, a monster family, whose story is surprisingly compactly and expressively told by the author on the very first pages of the novel. This genus symbolizes everything Soviet system in its most evil manifestations. And the weakness and agony of Elizbar’s family is what Avelum accidentally escaped from, but many of his colleagues were not saved. Conceptually, “Avelum” and “Godori” can be considered a duology in which the two paths of the “Soviet writer” and the “Soviet intellectual” are shown.

After “Data Tutashkhia” we had to wait two decades for a new novel Chabua Amirejibi(b. 1921). It appeared in 1995. “Mount Mborgali” is a hymn sung to freedom, human endurance, and love of life. The novel describes another escape from a Siberian prison by Gora Mborgali, a man of about 60 who was sentenced to life imprisonment. In the terrible cold, in a blizzard, in ice and snow, through the tundra and taiga, Gora travels 2500 km in 5 months and remembers his life: prison years, youth, childhood... In addition, stories of old acquaintances and stories emerge in his memory about ancestors... All these episodes and paintings, strung along a 2500-kilometer plot axis, depict almost two centuries of the history of Georgia, its way of life and customs. The vast heterogeneous material integrated into the mind of Gore Mborgali makes this fugitive a symbolic character whose fate is similar to that of his country.

There is a second main character in the novel - the head of the Mytileniche search service, who is chasing Mborgali. The struggle between them in this context also takes on a symbolic character. The portrait of Mytilenić, his style of thinking and methods of searching are described so impressively that the Gora Mborgali-Mytilenić counterpoint makes the narrative fascinating.

The third novel was recently released Chabua Amirejibi “ Georgy the Brilliant.” I haven’t had time to read it yet, so I’ll immediately move on to another of our classics - Guram Dochanashvili.

Guram Dochanashvili(b. 1939) is an author who knows how to do everything with the Georgian language. And he's been doing it for decades. Influence Dochanashvili on the literary process is enormous. He opened new horizons, made the language surprisingly malleable and free. From his texts, many have learned and are learning how to cast spells over the word. But Dochanashvili is not satisfied with what has been achieved and moves on. In 2003, he released a huge novel “Church Block”, where his linguistic witchcraft crosses all boundaries: suffixes and prefixes are out of place, the phonetics of the word changes, composite words come in bulk, phrases are stretched out, then suddenly interrupted, a different syntax appears etc. Such a grandiose novel has not been written in Georgia for a long time, so, apart from language experiments, assessing all its semantic layers is not an easy task and requires a lot of effort. Therefore, for now I will limit myself to only this general characteristic and for the sake of intrigue, I’ll add that a significant part of the novel is the ending, and there are seven endings.

Rezo Gabriadze(b. 1936) as a film scriptwriter and director of the puppet theater is well known throughout the world, including in Russia. You can expect everything from him, so it was not surprising that his two new small novels “Kutaisi - the city” (2002) and “Chito GK - 49-54, or the Doctor and the Patient” (2003) became an event in literary life Georgia. He recreates his hometown Kutaisi, which begins to live according to Gabriadze’s strange laws and concepts, and even the simplest actions of the characters are unique and forever remain in the minds of readers. For example, the main character of the first novel, Varlam, “in the old age of his childhood” is engaged in permanent barter: either he exchanges candy wrappers for bearings, or he exchanges lemonade labels for photographs of Tarzan, etc. And the magic of these barters is intertwined with the magic of the same simple actions of other characters. These novels read like different parts of the same novel. And they are united by a character who acts in both texts - this is Ermonia, the guardian angel of the city of Kutaisi.

The novel is extremely overloaded with Russian “barbarisms,” but this does not make their style vulgar. On the contrary, transparent, figurative speech Gabriadze together with his signature humor, uses this global “barbarization” to create another phenomenal language in Georgian literature.

Naira Gelashvili(b. 1947), author of many short stories and the novel “Mother’s Room,” published the book “Autobiographical, Too Autobiographical” in 1999. The book combines texts different types: the first part of the novel “Shards of the Mirror”, literary tales, poems, poems, etc. We can say that in modern Georgian literature she is a pronounced follower of existential, psychological prose of the European type. Interestingly, the protagonists of her works were almost always men. And this is not accidental: she always tried not to start from her “I” or even from the female “I”, but to objectify, generalize the problems posed, analyze them in the philosophical and ideological discourse of our time. Therefore, at first glance, this book, as an orientation toward the “I,” is a radical change in the author’s position. But if you look deeper, it turns out that the creative vector Naira Gelashvili remained the same, only this time she used her personal experience to achieve her artistic goals.

“Shards of the Mirror” is a novel about childhood and adolescence. There are many such novels in world literature, but Naira Gelashvili managed to create a text that is not similar to these wonderful examples. The novel consists of small “shards”, and each “shard” is a parabola. “Too autobiographical” narrated episodes suddenly emotionally and reliably develop into something else, and childhood becomes material for the artistic illustration of moral and philosophical principles.

Nugzar Shataidze(b. 1944) is a magnificent storyteller, one of those writers who knows how to revive the language of his grandparents and convey the flavor of Georgian peasant speech. He can be considered the best successor of that line in Georgian prose, of which he is a classic Rezo Inanishvili. In 1999 Shataidze published “The Story of Bread,” and this text, written in his characteristic “elastic” language, became one of the strangest phenomena of Georgian literature of the last decade. This story tells how to bake different varieties bread. It is explained in detail, with all the nuances: how to sift the flour, what type of wood to use to heat the oven, how to knead the dough, etc.

Formally, all this looks like a textbook, a scientific paper, or even a ethnographic research, because many tools and objects, names and actions associated with baking Georgian bread no longer exist or are on the verge of extinction, and many of them have never appeared in literary Georgian before. I think that over time the encyclopedic value of this story will become enormous, but at the same time it is an example of how today we can expand the boundaries of the already unimaginably expanded territory of literature. In “The Story of Bread” there is no plot at all, there is only daily bread and a person who has accumulated a huge body of knowledge about it. This harmony, this dynamic of the relationship between man and his daily bread creates literature, creates experimentation, which, in its essence, is natural.

In my opinion, it will be symbolic if our short review We will end with this story and wish Georgian literature that it will always be the daily bread for its people.

§ 3. Georgian literature

The second half of the 19th century is the most important period in the history of Georgian culture, in particular in the history of artistic expression. By this time, a new generation of writers was entering the literary arena, whose work reflected Georgian reality until the 10s of the 20th century. It is noteworthy that it was this galaxy of Georgian writers that established the realistic method in Georgian literature.

Ilya Chavchavadze (1837–1907)– certainly is central figure Georgian literature and socio-political life of Georgia in the 19th century. He set the tone and determined the main directions of development not only of Georgian literature, but also the path of development of the socio-political movement in Georgia, as well as the spiritual life of the Georgian people. Ilya Chavchavadze was a leader and an active participant in all undertakings vital for the nation. As a writer, thinker and politician, he is a completely unique phenomenon in the history of Georgia. He was rightly dubbed the “uncrowned” king of Georgia.

I. Chavchavadze’s contribution to the renewal and revival of the Georgian language and literature is invaluable. He is a reformer of the Georgian literary language.

The main thing in a writer’s work is the national motive. All artistic creativity Ilya Chavchavadze is imbued with the ideas of the struggle to save the Georgian people from degeneration, to preserve the national identity and unity of the nation, to increase national self-awareness.

The treasury of Georgian literature has been enriched by the timeless masterpieces created by Ilya Chavchavadze. These are: “Notes of a Traveler”, “Mother of a Georgian”, “Glorious Motherland”, “Vision”, “The Beggar’s Tale”, “Flock’s Widow”, “Is He a Man?” and others.

The works of Ilya Chavchavadze, imbued with ardent love for the motherland and a call for national struggle, for a long time served as spiritual food for the fighters for freedom and independence of the Georgian people. He showed the Georgian people the only path that led to achieving their cherished goal - the restoration of lost state independence.

Akaki Tsereteli (1840–1915). In the forefront of the fighters for national freedom, along with Ilya Chavchavadze, was the outstanding Georgian writer Akaki Tsereteli. He, like I. Chavchavadze, was a pioneer and an active participant in all vitally important national affairs. Poet, prose writer, publicist, translator, satirist and humorist, Akaki Tsereteli was primarily a lyric poet.

The poetry of Akaki Tsereteli is imbued with boundless love for his homeland and the ideas of the national movement, as evidenced by his numerous works: “Gray hair”, “Chonguri”, “My Bitter Fate”, “Spring”, “Suliko”, “Dawn”, “Educator”, “Tornike Eristavi”, “Bashi-Achuki” and others.

The optimistic works of Akaki Tsereteli, imbued with faith in the future of the Georgian people, played a big role in establishing and increasing their national self-awareness.

Jacob Gogebashvili (1840–1912). Absolutely special place in the history of Georgian literature and in general in the history of Georgian culture, the activities of an outstanding figure in the Georgian national movement, a great teacher and children's writer Jacob Gogebashvili.

His creation of textbooks “Deda Ena” (“Native speech”, 1876), “Georgian alphabet - the first book for students to read” (1876), among the phenomena of the 19th century, should be considered a fact of special significance. Jacob Gogebashvili is the author of numerous children's stories of patriotic content, among which stand out: “What did Iavnana do?”, “King Heraclius and the Ingiloika”, “Selfless Georgians” and others. These stories served to awaken and strengthen patriotic consciousness in children.

Lavrenty Ardaziani (1815–1870) in the novel “Solomon Isakich Medzhganuashvili” depicted the process of formation of the Georgian bourgeoisie. This was a completely new topic in Georgian literature.

Rafiel Eristavi (1824–1901). The creative activity of Rafiel Eristavi begins in the 50s of the 19th century. Patriotic themes occupy a significant place in his work. His famous poem “The Motherland of Khevsur”, recognized as a masterpiece of Georgian poetry, is dedicated to this topic.

Georgy Tsereteli (1842–1900). The work of George Tsereteli is a remarkable phenomenon in the history of Georgian literature, journalism and publicism, as well as in the history of the development of political thinking in Georgia. The writer’s worldview is determined by patriotic motives, the struggle for national freedom and social equality.

In her works: “The Flower of Our Life”, “Auntie Asmat”, “ Gray wolf", "The First Step" George Tsereteli painted an interesting picture of life in the post-reform and subsequent eras of Georgia. His work served to establish critical realism in Georgian literature.

Alexander Kazbegi (1848–1893). The literary talent and civic courage of Alexander Kazbegi were especially clearly manifested in his creative activity in the 80s of the 19th century. His novels and stories convey with great artistic power inner world characters, their feelings and experiences.

Alexander Kazbegi truthfully portrayed the cruelty of Russian enslavers and the plight of the Georgian people under the yoke of the colonial regime of the Tsarist autocracy. Tragic pictures The lives of the oppressed people and their unbridled desire for freedom and independence are depicted with great artistic skill in the works: “Heavisbury Gocha”, “Mentor”, “Elguja”, “Eliso” and others.

Vazha-Pshavela (1861–1915)- pseudonym of the great Georgian poet Luka Razikashvili. In Vazha-Pshavela’s poetry, life is an endless confrontation between light and darkness, good and evil. In his lyrical works: “Good Serf”, “Eagle”, “Night in the Mountains”, “Ancient Song of Warriors”, etc. the homeland is embodied in the image of God.

The crown of the poet’s poetry are his poems: “Snake Eater”, “Bakhtrioni”, “Gogoturi and Apshina”, “Aluda Ketelauri”, “Guest and Host”. It can be said that after Ilya Chavchavadze and Akaki Tsereteli, it was the patriotic poetry of Vazha-Pshavela that had a huge influence on the rise and development of Georgian national consciousness.

Egnate Ingorokva (1859–1894) in Georgian literature he is known under the pseudonym “Ninoshvili”. The work of Egnate Ninoshvili reflects the life and way of life of his native land (Guria). Against the background of the miserable existence of peasants at the time of the establishment of capitalism in Georgia, the writer shows the social contradictions that exist between different layers of Georgian society. The stories “Gogia Vishvili”, “Mose, the Village Clerk”, “Simona” are dedicated to this topic.

His work “Revolt in Guria” is dedicated to the 1841 uprising in Guria.

Avksenti Tsagareli (1857–1902) - famous playwright, champion of the renewed Georgian theater.

The feature films “Keto and Kote” and “These are Different Times” were based on the plots of his timeless comedies.

Populist ideas were reflected in Georgian literature of the second half of the 19th century. From this point of view, the works of Anton Purtseladze (1839–1913), Ekaterina Gabashvili (1851–1938), Sofrom Mgaloblishvili (1851–1925) and Niko Lomouri (1852–1915) are of interest. At that time, writers who were passionate about populist ideas were called “admirers of the common people.” The most popular works of popular writers belong to Peru: “Lurja Magdana”, “Kadzhana”, “Matsi Khvitia”.

At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, a new generation of Georgian writers appeared in the literary field, among which, first of all, it should be noted Shio Dedabrishvili (Aragvisspireli), David Kldiashvili, Vasily Barnaveli (Barnova), Kondrate Tatarashvili (Unarmed), Chola (Bikenti) Lomtatidze and Shalva Dadiani.

Shio Dedabrishvili (1867–1926) in Georgian literature he is known under the pseudonym “Aragvisspireli”. The main theme of his work is the relationship between man and society.

David Kldiashvili (1862–1931)- a brilliant chronicler of the life of the Georgian small nobility, who lost economic soil and privileges at the time of the establishment of bourgeois relations. The writer, with unsurpassed skill and subtle humor, shows the tragedy of the impoverished nobles, who were once proud of their privileged position and reached complete impoverishment.

In the works of David Kldiashvili: “Solomon Morbeladze”, “Stepmother Samanishvili”, “The Adversity of Darispan”, the heroes who find themselves in a comic situation become victims of a tragic fate.

Vasily Barnov (1856–1934) revived the genre of the historical novel in Georgian literature. His historical novels “The Dawn of Isani”, “Martyrdom of Love”, “The Destruction of Armazi” captivate the reader with deep patriotism and sublime love.

Kondrate Tatarashvili (1872–1929) (“Unarmed”) in his work “Mamluk” against the background tragic fate two people shows one of the most monstrous phenomena that took place in Georgia in the 18th century - the purchase and sale of prisoners.

Chola (Bikenti) Lomtatidze (1878–1915) introduced the theme of the horrors of prison life into Georgian literature. His most famous works on this topic are “Before the Gallows” and “In Prison.”

Shalva Dadiani (1874–1959) enriched Georgian literature with his dramatic work “Yesterday” and the historical novel “Georgi of Rus'”, dedicated to the era of Queen Tamar.

At the beginning of the 20th century, future masters of artistic expression began their creative activity: Mikheil Javakhishvili, Niko Lordkipanidze, Leo Shengelia (Kancheli), Alexander Chochia (Abasheli), Galaktion Tabidze, Titian Tabidze, Joseph Mamulashvili (Grishashvili), etc.

Mikheil Javakhishvili (1880–1937) my literary activity began at the beginning of the 19th century. He actively participated in national movement. His first stories (“Chanchura”, “Gabo the Shoemaker”, etc.) are realistic and imbued with the ideas of humanism.

Niko Lordkipanidze (1880–1944) He wrote his first works under the influence of impressionism (“Heart”, “The Unwritten Story”, “To the Moon”, etc.). His short stories are imbued with a feeling of disappointment in life caused by its dullness and cruelty.

From early works Leo Chiacheli (1884–1963) the most significant is the novel “Tariel Golua”, a brilliant example of Georgian prose, in which the social struggle found its realistic reflection.

Titian Tabidze (1895–1937) was one of the most typical representatives of Georgian symbolism. In his work one can feel the connection between Georgian poetry and romantic-patriotic traditions.

Creation Galaktion Tabidze (1891–1959) is an inexhaustible encyclopedia of the human soul, which equally reflects the real and the unreal, human weakness and strength, joy and sorrow.

Joseph Grishashvili (1889–1964) entered Georgian literature with his optimistic, patriotic poems. In his work, in addition to the theme of love for the Motherland, leading place occupy exotic species antiquities Tbilisi.

Georgian literature of the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries took its rightful place in the treasury of achievements of world culture.

Many great names of world literature are associated with Georgia Tbilisi. “Russian poets inevitably pass through Georgia in terms of their hearts,” said N. Tikhonov. This city has always been attractive to Russian poets, writers and artists; they linked their fate with him, and when leaving Tbilisi, they always mentally returned to him. A.S. called this city a “magical land”. Pushkin, who was deeply moved by the reception he received in Tbilisi. “I don’t remember a day,” the poet wrote, “on which I would have been more fun than this; I see how loved, understood and appreciated I am, and how this makes me happy.”

Decembrist writers V. Kuchelbecker, A. Bestuzhev-Marlinsky, A. Odoevsky, poets of the Pushkin galaxy - D. Davydov, A. Shishkov, V. Teplyakov lived in Tbilisi and Georgia. M. Lermontov, a cornet of the Nizhny Novgorod Dragoon Regiment, served in Tbilisi, exiled to the Caucasus for the poem “On the Death of a Poet” and dedicated his “Demon”, “Mtsyri”, “Gifts of the Terek” and other works to Georgia. From Tbilisi, the poet wrote: “If it weren’t for my grandmother, then, in all honesty, I would willingly stay here.”

14 years after M. Lermontov left, L. Tolstoy came here. Preparing to join the Caucasian Army, he settled in the house of a German colonist and kept diaries about his stay in Georgia. Here L. Tolstoy wrote his first work, “Childhood,” and decades later, the story “Hadji Murat,” which reflected many of his Tbilisi impressions.

Russian playwright A. Ostrovsky visited Tbilisi more than once.

Young Alexey Peshkov published his first story “Makar Chudra” in the Tbilisi newspaper “Caucasus” and for the first time signed it with the name “Maxim Gorky”. The poem “The Girl and Death”, sketches for the legend “Danko”, several stories - all this is the Tbilisi period of M. Gorky’s work.

At different times, the literary paths of G. Uspensky and A. Bely ran through Tbilisi. Good friends were found in Tbilisi. Mayakovsky, S. Yesenin, B. Pasternak, O. Mandelstam, K. Paustovsky were here, and Chekhov

Russian writers and other prominent figures of Russian art had many friends in the “warm” city of Tbilisi. Many stayed in the hospitable house of Prince Alexander Chavchavadze, a romantic poet and the most educated man of his time. Contemporaries said about him: “Everything that came from St. Petersburg, decent and dignified, young and old, belonged to the prince’s living room. His charming family... was the only one in Tbilisi in which visiting guests from the North and West found the beginning of holy Georgian hospitality in complete agreement with the conditions of an educated European society."

The fate of A. Griboyedov was closely connected with Tbilisi and the family of Prince A. Chavchavadze, who, according to one of his contemporaries, “loved Georgia so passionately, so purely, as few people even love their homeland.” Even before the comedy “Woe from Wit” was released, it was staged on the Tbilisi stage by amateurs. Contemporaries recognized A. Griboedov’s unfinished tragedy “Georgian Night” as worthy “to decorate not only Russian, but also all European literature.” A.S. Griboyedov was married to Nina, the daughter of Prince A. Chavchavadtse.

Halfway to the holy Mount Mtatsminda, hanging from the west over Tbilisi with a bristly ridge. Near the church, on two terraces of different heights, the Pantheon of Georgian writers and public figures is located,

In the rock on the lower terrace, in a small grotto with a stone arch, two graves are visible. An inscription in Georgian is carved on the arch: “Here lies the ashes of Griboyedov. This monument was erected by his wife Nina, daughter of the poet Alexander Chavchavadze, in the year 1832.”

On the hills of Georgia

Alexander Pushkin

The darkness of night lies on the hills of Georgia;
Aragva makes noise in front of me.

Dreams about Georgia

Bella Akhmadulina
Dreams about Georgia - what a joy!
And in the morning it’s so clean
grape sweetness,
overshadowed the lips.

From the poem “Vladikavkaz - Tiflis”

Vladimir Mayakovsky

…I know:
stupidity - Eden and paradise!
But if
sang about it
must be
Georgia,
joyful land,
the poets meant...

To the poets of Georgia

Sergey Yesenin
The land is distant!
Alien side!
Georgian flint roads.
Amber wine
The moon streams into your eyes,
Deep into the eyes,
Like blue horns.

I dream about the humpbacked Tiflis

Osip Mandelstam
I dream of hunchbacked Tiflis,
Sazandarey's moan rings,
There are crowds of people on the bridge,
The entire carpet capital,
And below Kura is making noise.

Land of Georgians

Evgeniy Yevtushenko

Oh Georgia - wiping our tears,
you are the second cradle of the Russian muse.

Carelessly forgetting about Georgia,
in Russia it is impossible to be a poet.

— — —
Land of Georgians

Land of Georgians, you are so small!
Not a thousand miles long
you are powerful, and by attraction
both man and eagle.

Fragment of the poem “Waves”

Boris Pasternak

...We were in Georgia. Let's multiply
Need for tenderness, hell for heaven,
Let's take the greenhouse under the ice,
And we will get this edge.

And it's not just about delicious food and wine, warm climate and beautiful nature. Georgia is, first of all, friendly people, unique culture and ancient history. This is a country where West and East, Europe and Asia harmoniously combine. Sunny Sakartvelo captivates its guests, makes them fall in love with them, and fills them with strength. I want to return there again and again. This is a place where everyone feels at home, surrounded by family and close friends.

Georgia also played its special role in Russian culture. It was a region where talented writers, poets, artists and musicians from all over Russia sought inspiration. We will talk about some of them in our material.

The life of Alexander Griboyedov was closely connected with Georgia. He lived and worked in Tiflis (present-day Tbilisi) for a long time. It was in this city that he completed his famous comedy “Woe from Wit”. And here the first productions of his play were successfully staged. Georgian nobles, who had just begun to become acquainted with Russian culture and Russian literature, staged it on the stages of amateur home theaters. In the summer of 1828, Griboedov married Nina Chavchavadze, a Georgian princess, daughter of the outstanding romantic poet Alexander Chavchavadze. But they were destined to live together for only a few weeks. The poet was sent on a diplomatic mission to Persia, and six months later an angry crowd carried out a massacre in Russian embassy in Tehran.

Griboyedov's body was taken to Tiflis and solemnly buried in the pantheon on Mount Mtatsminda. Over his grave, grief-stricken Nina erected a monument, the inscription on which reads: “Your mind and deeds are immortal in Russian memory, but why did my love survive you!” Griboyedov's tombstone is still considered one of the main attractions of the city, and the Tbilisi Russian is named after him Theatre of Drama- the oldest Russian theater in the world operating outside of Russia.

Pushkin also visited Georgia. Alexander Sergeevich was passing by Tiflis when he was catching up with the regular army, which was going to war with Turkey in Western Armenia. Tired of the long journey along the Georgian Military Road, he decided to stop in the city for a few days to gain strength, and at the same time meet with his comrades from the lyceum (many of whom were in Tiflis in those years).

During these days, the poet managed to visit the famous sulfur baths of Abanotubani, take part in several noisy feasts, have plenty of walks along the winding city streets, and also observe life and morals local residents. He left his memories of Georgia in the story “Journey to Arzrum during the campaign of 1829.”

Perhaps the most famous Russian “Caucasian” writer was Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov. Expelled from Russia for writing poems on the death of Pushkin, Lermontov ended up in the Nizhny Novgorod Dragoon Regiment, which was stationed in the Caucasus in those years. The impressions of what he experienced and saw during his service in the regular army greatly affected his personality, turning him from a metropolitan rake into a lonely melancholy romantic.

The beauty of nature, the life of the highlanders and folklore: all this left its mark on him, and subsequently formed the basis for most of his works, many of which take place in Georgia (“Demon”, “Mtsyri”, etc.) . To this day, at the entrance to Tbilisi there is a monument to the great Russian romantic poet, for whom the Caucasus served as an inexhaustible source of inspiration, and Daryal, Mtskheta and Old Tiflis became his real creative homeland.

Shortly before joining the Caucasian Army, twenty-three-year-old Leo Tolstoy lived in Tiflis. Having settled in the house of a German colonist, he began to write his first literary work - the story “Childhood”. At the same time, he kept diaries, recording in them his thoughts and memories of the Georgian capital. It was during this period of his life that he realized that he wanted to become a professional writer. Subsequently, the experience of participating in the Caucasian War and the impressions of being in Georgia formed the basis for the famous story “Hadji Murat”, as well as other works of the great Russian classic.

Vladimir and Vasily Nemirovich-Danchenko

The Nemirovich-Danchenko brothers were born into the family of an officer in the city of Ozurgeti, Kutaisi province (now in Guria).

Vasily Ivanovich's childhood years were spent in a camp environment - he traveled a lot throughout Georgia, Azerbaijan and Dagestan. As the eldest son, he was ordered to follow in his father's footsteps and become a military man, so he was sent to study at the Alexander Cadet Corps in Moscow. He returned to Georgia only in 1876, when an uprising against the Turks was brewing in Adjara (the region neighboring his native Guria). His impressions of what he saw were reflected in the second part, “Under the Hot Sun.” The very next year, as a career officer in the imperial army, Vasily Nemirovich-Danchenko took part in the Russian-Turkish War of 1877 - 1878, which was reflected in his famous book “Skobelev”.

The fate of his younger brother, Vladimir Ivanovich, turned out differently, whom his parents sent to study at the Tiflis gymnasium. As a high school student, he, together with his friend Alexander Sumbatov-Yuzhin (real name Sumbatashvili), rented a small apartment on the outskirts of the city, where young people wrote their first plays and gave small performances for friends and acquaintances. Few could have imagined then that they would later become the greatest theatrical figures Russia and Soviet Union, one of whom will be the founder of the Moscow Art Theater, and the other - the director of the Maly Theater.

In 1876, after graduating from high school with a silver medal, Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko went to Moscow to study to become a lawyer. His comrade remained in the Georgian capital, where in the same year he made his acting debut on the stage of one of the city theaters. Subsequently, the friends met in Moscow.

and Zinaida Gippius

In the summer of 1888, twenty-two-year-old Dmitry Merezhkovsky traveled around Georgia. Arriving in the resort town of Borjomi, he met with one of his acquaintances, who during the conversation showed him a photograph of the aspiring poetess Zinaida Gippius. Looking at her, Merezhkovsky exclaimed: “What a face!” But ironically, just a few days later, while walking along one of the city streets, he accidentally ran into an eighteen-year-old girl. She turned out to be just... Zinaida Gippius. Six months later they got married in Tiflis. And they lived together for 52 years, during which, according to Zinaida Nikolaevna, “they were not separated for a single day.” This strange meeting at one of the Georgian resorts marked the beginning of one of the strongest and most fruitful creative unions in Russian culture.

As part of his first “Walking in Rus',” Maxim Gorky also visited Georgia. It was this country that became his unique literary homeland. The young writer's first story (“Makar Chudra”) was published in Tiflis. This happened in 1892, when Gorky worked in the workshops of the Transcaucasian Railways. Soon after this, the aspiring writer went to build the Black Sea highway in Abkhazia. On one of the deserted roads between Sukhumi and Ochamchire, he met a pregnant woman who suddenly went into labor. The writer had to deliver the child from her, biting the umbilical cord with his teeth. This episode from life formed the basis of the story “The Birth of Man,” and the obstetric feat of Peshkov (this is Gorky’s real name) was subsequently cast in bronze near the Kodori River.

After returning to Russia, Gorky kept remembering sunny Sakartvelo. During his life, he repeatedly came to Georgia, where he met with his friends and acquaintances. Together with them, taking part in traditional feasts, he sang Gurian and Kartli-Kakheti songs, which from his youth captivated him with their beauty and sensuality, and about the country itself with a smile on his face he said: “Georgia made me a writer from a vagabond.”

Mayakovsky was born into the family of a forester in the village of Bagdati, Kutaisi province (now a city in Imereti). Until he was nine years old, he practically did not speak Russian - only at home with his parents. He spent the rest of his time in the company of his Georgian peers. The situation was changed by his enrollment in the Kutaisi gymnasium, where teaching was conducted in Russian. But just four years after his admission, a misfortune occurred in his home - his father died from blood poisoning, accidentally pricking his finger with a needle.

After the death of the breadwinner, the mother decided to move to Moscow forever with her children. However, throughout his life, Mayakovsky repeatedly returned to his small homeland, where he had so many friends and acquaintances. The poet himself was proud of the fact that he was born in Georgia, and in some of his poems he even called himself a Georgian.

Boris Pasternak's first trip to Georgia took place in 1931, when he arrived in Tbilisi at the invitation of his friend, poet Paolo Yashvili. There he also met outstanding Georgian cultural figures - Titian Tabidze, Lado Gudiashvili, Nikoloz Mitsishvili, Simon Chikovani, Georgiy Leonidze and others. Their acquaintance grew into a close, long-term friendship, and Pasternak’s three-month stay in Georgia left a deep mark on his soul.

Fascinated by the culture and history of this country, he also became interested in its literature. Soon after returning to Russia, he enthusiastically began translating the works of Georgian classics. Among his most famous works are “The Snake Eater” by Vazha Pshavela and the lyrics of Nikoloz Baratashvili. The poet's friendship with well-known representatives Georgian art lasted almost 30 years, and Georgia itself became his second homeland, to which he returned several times throughout his life.