Georgian poets of the 20th century. §3

M.Yu. Lermontov went to the Caucasus on his military service. The poet was assigned as an ensign to the Nizhny Novgorod Dragoon Regiment, stationed in Kakheti. He went to the service in April 1837 and arrived and arrived at the place 6 months later - in October. In the meantime, the poet's grandmother secured the transfer of her grandson to the Grodno Hussars, stationed in the Novgorod province.

Despite the short period of stay in Georgia, the impressions received left an indelible mark on the personality of the poet. You can learn about his life in the Caucasus in a letter that he addressed to his friend Raevsky. In it, he described his difficult journey, the illness that happened to him on the road, and how he traveled on horseback in the Caucasus Mountains, enjoying the clean mountain air and stunning landscapes.

Lermontov brought back many graphic works from his travels in the Caucasus. He "hastily filmed" the picturesque places he managed to visit and scenes from the life of the local population. The history of the Caucasus, its folklore, life and splendor of wild nature were subsequently reflected in literary works, in many the action takes place in Georgia.

"Mtsyri", "Demon", "Hero of Our Time", "Dispute", "Gifts of the Terek", "Tamara", "Date", "Hurrying to the North" and others. Where the action of the poem "Mtsyri" unfolded, today there is a monument to Mikhail Lermontov at the entrance to Tbilisi.

"View of Tiflis". M.Yu. Lermontov. Oil. 1837

Some Lermontov places in Tbilisi

On the northern outskirts of Tbilisi, where the Georgian Military Highway adjoins today, there is a monument to Mikhail Lermontov.

In one of the central districts of Tbilisi there is Lermontov Street. The Lermontov House, where the officers were quartered, has been preserved.

Monument to M.Yu. Lermontov at the entrance to Tbilisi.

Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin

Pushkin went to the Caucasus at the end of May 1829 to catch up with the troops of General Paskevich. It was the period of the Russian-Turkish war. The arrival in Georgia coincided with the 30th anniversary of the writer. Residents of the city greeted the birthday man with delight. In honor of the eminent poet, a luxurious festive banquet was arranged outside the city in the garden of Krtsanisi, where dancers, singers and artists from different parts of Georgia were invited.

Pushkin was delighted with the mixture of Eastern and Western European cultures, the hospitality of the local public and the rich Georgian cuisine. In Tbilisi, A.S. Pushkin was delayed for 2 weeks. We find a few lines about Tbilisi in his work "Journey to Arzrum", written in 1829.

Pushkin places in Tbilisi

Sulfur baths, Pushkin street, a bust of the poet in the square in front of the National Museum.

Pushkin was impressed by the beauty of the city, the atmosphere and revelry, as well as the incredible heat in the city at that time. As you know, Tbilisi means "warm city", Pushkin called it "hot city". Well, who does not remember his famous lines about the Sulfur Baths:

I have never met in Russia or Turkey anything more luxurious than the Tiflis baths. I will describe them in detail...

Later, the street along which the poet entered Tbilisi was named after him. In 1892, a monument to Pushkin, cast in bronze, was erected on this street. The monument to Pushkin was erected on donations from fans of his work.

Monument to the great poet in the park near Freedom Square

Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy

“I firmly decided to stay and serve in the Caucasus. I don’t know yet in military service or civil service under Prince Vorontsov.”

In the historical center of Tbilisi there is a house where Leo Tolstoy began work on his famous story "Childhood" during his residence in Georgia in 1851-1852.

It has a bas-relief depicting the writer and a short accompanying text. Today, the house has been restored and a children's theater operates in its basement, but it still preserves the amazing atmosphere of the middle of the 19th century - the wooden staircase that Tolstoy walked along, the peace and quiet of a cozy Tbilisi courtyard.

Leo Tolstoy and his brother arrived in the Caucasus for military service. They traveled along the Georgian Military Highway, stopped in Kazbegi, climbed to the medieval temple of the Holy Trinity Sameba on the top of the mountain. When he reached Tbilisi, Tolstoy was so impressed with the city that he seriously intended to stay here to live, serve and write, but fate turned out differently.

Tolstoy places

A monument to the poet was erected 30 km from the capital of Georgia in the settlement of Mukhrovani, where Leo Tolstoy previously served.

On the street "David IV the Builder" Agmashenebeli, a house with a memorial plaque, where Leo Tolstoy stayed with his brother, has been preserved.

Maksim Gorky

“I never forget that it was in this city (Tiflis) that I took the first uncertain step along the path that I have been following for four decades now. One might think that it was the majestic nature of the country and the romantic gentleness of its people - it was these two forces - that gave me the impetus that made me a writer from a vagabond.

According to Gorky's personal confession, the nature of Georgia and the gentleness of its inhabitants gave him an impetus that shaped his personality, making "a writer out of a vagabond." The Tiflis newspaper "Kavkaz" in 1892 for the first time published the prose "Makar Chudra" by the then unknown young writer Alexei Peshkov under the name Maxim Gorky.

This work was written on the banks of the Kura River, where the writer worked as a worker in the Transcaucasian railway workshops. In Tbilisi, Gorky even went to jail for anti-tsarist speeches in 1905.

His life in Georgia, the local way of life, left a huge imprint on Gorky's subsequent work. Many literary works are based on real life episodes - the story "Mistake", "The Birth of Man" and others.

Gorky was very fond of Georgian chants, literature, was actively interested in the culture of the country and its ancient monuments of architecture. He liked to visit Narikala fortress, Mtskheta and traveled a lot around the country.

In place of Maxim Gorky

Streets in Georgian cities were named after Gorky, and in Tbilisi a monument to the writer was erected in the park, which was previously named after him.

Monument to the writer in Tbilisi

Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky

Georgia is the birthplace of the famous Russian poet. He was born in the Imeretian village of Bagdati, Kutaisi province, and spent the first 13 years of his life there, studying at the Kutaisi gymnasium. However, he failed to finish it. Mayakovsky's father, who worked as a forester, pricked himself with a needle, got blood poisoning, and soon died suddenly. Mayakovsky and his mother went to live in Moscow.

Mayakovsky got to Georgia 12 years later, being already a famous poet. There he triumphantly performed on the local stage, met with friends of his youth. In 1924, Mayakovsky returned to his beloved Tiflis with the dream of organizing a performance based on the play Mystery Buff. Due to circumstances, the project failed. Mayakovsky visited Georgia 2 more times in 1924 and 1927, performed from the stage of the Shota Rustaveli Theater, met with his bohemian friends.

According to his frequent confessions, he loved Georgia very much and, to the question of Georgians, he or Russian answered that he was Georgian by birth, and Russian by nationality. And that he loves Georgia as his homeland - its sky, sun and nature.

In the places of Mayakovsky

Today in Kutaisi, near the building of the gymnasium, where he once studied, a monument to Vladimir Mayakovsky has been erected. The house in which he once lived with his parents has become a museum, more than 5.5 thousand exhibits are stored there. A bust of the poet was installed at the entrance to Baghdati, and the city itself was called Mayakovsky until 1990.

House Museum of Vladimir Mayakovsky in Baghdati

Vladimir and Vasily Nemirovichi-Danchenko

The life path of the brothers is closely connected with Georgia, they were both born in the Gurian town of Ozurgeti, in childhood they traveled a lot around the country and in the Caucasus Mountains with their father, an officer. In his youth, the younger brother Vladimir studied at the Tiflis gymnasium, during his studies he began work on his first works and organized amateur productions of his own plays. In Tiflis, he first visited the theater, which determined his future fate.

The older brother studied at the Moscow Cadet School, and later came to Adzharia to participate in the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. Subsequently, many episodes of living in Georgia became the basis of his works, in particular, the book "Skobelev".

Boris Leonidovich Pasternak

During his life, Boris Pasternak visited Tbilisi many times, starting in the summer of 1931. He had a close friendship with a whole constellation of brilliant Georgian cultural figures and Georgian writers - Titian Tabidze, Georgy Leonidze, Nikoloz Mitsishvili, Simon Chikovani, Paolo Yashvili, Lado Gudiashvili, Valerian Gaprindashvili and others.

Pasternak himself was actively involved in translating the literary works of Georgian writers, in particular Titian Tabidze, Nikoloz Baratashvili, Vazha Pshavela, and also wrote a lot about Georgia and his impressions about it.

He was madly in love with Georgia, its culture, traditions, hospitality, its free spirit and atmosphere, its people. This was especially acute against the background of censorship, harassment and repression of poets in Russia by the ideological state machine.

It was in Georgia that Pasternak found like-minded people and friends with whom they visited each other until the morning, read poetry, and had philosophical conversations. A favorite meeting place was the legendary Himerioni Cafe in the basement of the Rustaveli Theatre, as well as the home of Titian Tabidze's family on Griboyedov Street.

According to Pasternak himself, Georgia literally penetrated him, became his organic. His daughter had 13 godparents, all friends of her father. Now the Literary Museum of Georgia stores an archive of Boris Pasternak's manuscripts, and in April 1988, the Titian Tabidze Museum-Apartment was opened on Griboyedovskaya Street, where the figure of Pasternak occupied one of the central places.

Sergey Yesenin

Sergei Yesenin, already at the zenith of his fame, first arrived in Tbilisi in 1924, a year before his death. He quickly fit into a hectic life in the company of his like-minded people - journalists from the Zarya Vostoka newspaper. The newspaper gladly published the poems of the poet.

In total, the poet spent about six months in Tbilisi and Batumi, writing a series of romantic poems from the cycle "Persian Motifs", "Stans", "Letter to a Woman", "In the Caucasus" and two poems "Flowers" and "Anna Snegina".

Memorial plaque on the house where Sergei Yesenin stayed

Other names of Russian writers who visited Tbilisi

It is possible to list cult Russian writers, whose fate was closely intertwined with Georgia, for a long time. Such classics of literature as Anton Chekhov, Sergei Yesenin, Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Anna Akhmatova, Joseph Brodsky, Bella Akhmadullina, and many others have visited beautiful warm Georgia.

Georgia inevitably left its mark on their life and work, and they, in turn, became part of the cultural heritage of this country.

You can listen to fascinating and full of interesting details stories about Russian writers in Georgia, see their places of residence, as well as wander along the routes associated with their memory, on the author's excursion, which we organize with special love and inspiration. Join us and make amazing personal discoveries!

By the way, excursions to the front houses of a hundred years ago have become quite popular. Marble stairs, forged railings, wall paintings give an idea of ​​the wealth of the owners of Tbilisi at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. .

Earl Akhvlediani

"Vano, Niko and the Hunt"

Once it seemed to Niko that Vano was a bird, and he himself was a hunter.

Vano was worried and thought: "What should I do, I'm not a bird, I'm Vano." But Niko did not believe, he bought a double-barreled gun and began to look at the sky. He was waiting for Wano to take off to kill him. But the sky was empty.

Vano was really afraid to turn into a bird and fly; he carried stones in his pocket so as not to fly up; ate a lot so as not to take off; did not look at the swallows, so as not to learn to fly; I did not look at the sky, so as not to want to fly.

Niko, - said Vano Niko, - drop this gun and don't look at the sky. I'm not a bird, I'm Vano... What kind of bird am I?

You are a bird, and it's over! Take off quickly, I'll shoot. I am a hunter.

Niko, - said Vano Niko, - what a bird I am when I am Vano.

Don't bother, - Niko dispersed, - don't bother, otherwise I'll shoot. If you are on the ground, I will shoot anyway, as if you had just landed.

Wano fell silent and left.

Arriving home, Vano had a hearty lunch, sewed many pockets on his shirt, stuffed them with stones and thought.

“Probably, Niko doesn’t know what a bird is, otherwise he didn’t turn turn me into a bird.

Nodar Dumbadze

"Dog"

This story began in August 1941 and ended exactly two years later.

Our village felt the harsh breath of war within a month. Accustomed to a prosperous life, the collective farmer could not immediately comprehend the whole horror of what had happened, did not calculate his possibilities, and it so happened that the barns and chests in many houses were empty already in August, and in our house even earlier ...

Grandfather Spiridon, exhausted by dropsy, spent days and nights by the fireplace, and all the household chores fell on my shoulders. What a farm! Even now my back begins to ache, as I remember how much firewood and brushwood I then dragged from the forest: the poor old man would have disappeared without heat.

On August 25, the last piece of mchadi was eaten. Grandfather took a ten-liter bottle of vodka sealed with a stump from the closet and said:

Put it in the basket, go to Chokhatauri and exchange it for a pood of corn. The one who offers less, pour this very vodka over, break the bottle and return home ... Mulberry vodka, and it contains eighty degrees, you must understand! .. That's it.

Miho Mosulishvili

"Dance with the Rock"

"If you are forever in eternal snow

You lie down - over you, as over your loved ones,

Mountain ranges lean

The most durable obelisk in the world."

Vladimir Vysotsky, "To the Top" (In Memory of Mikhail Khergiani).

One day, in the autumn of 1968, my uncle took me, a boy of six years old, to watch a climbing practice in the Tbilisi Botanical Garden.

And then I, sitting in an exceptionally elite place, in the "Benoir box", that is, on my uncle's neck, saw a stunning sight.

No, it couldn't be called climbing.

It was a rock dance! Or with a rock! Oh, how filigree, like a cat, one of them especially moved. And the truth - as if dancing, deftly climbing up the rock. With just one finger, he caught on ledges that others did not notice.

Who is he? asked my uncle.

Which the? He looked at me, narrowing his sun-drenched eyes.

There is the one that dances on the rock.

And did you like it? uncle rejoiced. "He is the Tiger of Rocks!"

Why Tiger?

The newspapers wrote that for his ability to pass difficult rocky routes with incredible speed, he received the nickname "Tiger of Rocks" from English climbers.

And who is he really?

Misha Khergiani!

Truth? And I'm also Misha! I rejoiced.

Yes, you namesakes! Uncle laughed. - And they also say that if he catches on a bare ledge of a rock with just one finger, he hangs over the abyss for a whole week and does not utter a groan ...

Akaki Tsereteli

"Bashi-Achuk"
(historical story)

Chapter first

From somewhere out of boundless distance, the seething Aragva rushes, wriggling like a snake, and, punching its way, furiously, with a flourish, flies onto a sheer rock! Thrown back by an indestructible stronghold, deafened, dazed, she stops her run here, as if in order to take a breath, and, circling in place, rushes forward again, but flows more slowly, more carefully, with a groan and a roar, carrying her waters into the valley.

On top of this sheer cliff, cutting through the clouds, rises a huge impregnable castle, like a reliable sentry, looking around the surroundings from a height. The castle is surrounded by a high strong fence, and only from the east is a balcony stretching along the entire wall visible.

They had already had lunch in the castle. Eristav Zaal, a venerable old man, sat cross-legged on an ottoman in the corner of the balcony, fingering a rosary.

Right next to it, moving a chair to the very railing, Zaal's wife was reading the "Canon of Passions". The psalter lay in her lap; having read the psalm - and she had to repeat it, forty times a day, - the princess crossed herself and moved another knot on a cord that replaced her rosary.

Alexander Kazbegi

"Eleanor"

Young and playful, pampered and sly, wayward and beautiful Eleonora, the daughter of a wealthy feudal lord Vakhtang Kheltubneli, was the object of dreams of the then youth.

All who were noble enough, rich and brilliant, relentlessly sought her hand, everyone dreamed of the honor of becoming her husband, inventing a thousand ways to please her. But Eleanor, arrogant in her beauty and proud that her father was the ruler of the whole region, came from the most noble family in the country and possessed innumerable wealth, laughed at her fans, at the same time attracting them to her, kindled the fire of love in them. without submitting to anyone. Many young people surrounded the beautiful girl, they sighed, yearned for her, deprived of sleep and peace, but all was in vain. Their fiery words, impulsive selfless deeds and fiery sparkling glances were unable to soften Eleanor's hearts, could not melt the icy armor around her.

Anna Antonovskaya

"Great Mouravi"
(an epic novel in 6 books)

Book One "Awakening the Leopard"

Part one

A gloomy cliff with mossy sides loomed over the abyss. Suddenly, a golden eagle burst from his slightly bent shoulder. Spread as if forged from black

iron wings and angrily opening a curved beak, like a bent tip of a spear, the predator rushed to the sun. The stunned sun staggered and fell, and instantly shattered into pieces, dropping red-green-orange splashes on

the crimson heights of Didgori.

"Oh! .. ho! .." - the arba creaked out of the thickets of hazel. Fingering the yoke with their wrinkled necks, the two buffaloes, with their bulging eyes slightly squinting, walked indifferently towards the mountain forest. Papuna Chivadze, having risen, wanted to express his opinion about the impolite behavior of the golden eagle, but ... why was it sprawled on a steep ledge?

Either a leopard, or another unknown solar beast with melted spots

on a smoldering skin. Papuna Chivadze decided to advise the sun so that,

leaving, it picked up its clothes, but something fell off the cart and hit on

roadside stone. Picking up the wineskin and throwing it back, Papuna Chivadze was about to think about the rules of communication between earthly travelers and those above ground and heavenly, but suddenly a pink bird chirped excitedly in the branches of an oak struck by lightning, and Papuna's thoughts were transferred to a small house, where a "bird", similar to pink, waiting for the promised beads. He wanted to hurry the buffaloes with a twig, but changed his mind and indulged in contemplation of the hushed forest.

The sun rolled over the peaks, the golden eagle disappeared, the leopard faded. With a light step

night descended on the earth, dragging a cloak strewn with

fireflies, not stars.

Konstantin Gamsakhurdia

"Hand of the Grand Master"

Prologue

The Georgian Military Road is the most beautiful in the world, Dardimandi is a wonderful horse, and horseback riding is the best recreation for me. When a sharp-faced, broad-chested, strong-legged spear, pricking up his ears, looks at me, inexhaustible energy wakes up in me, and it seems that I was born again into the world and have not yet had time to taste the delight of fast horse running and the joy of movement on this beautiful land.

I stroke Dardimandy's ears, small as beech leaves, look into his black eyes and become infected with the irrepressible power that mother nature has so generously awarded him ...

It happened one day that my well-behaved horse suddenly got excited and became so furious that even to the very Kara-Kum you can ride it with a quarry.

Widely opening his beautiful big eyes to the shiny cars, grubby trucks, he, absorbing space, carried me into the distance. I am not inclined to blame Dardimandy for the fact that the hot blood of an indefatigable horse boiled in him ...

Tbilisi has grown into a big city before our eyes. The lights of electric lamps sparkle on Mount St. David, in the park named after Stalin. Electric balls, reflected in the waves of the Kura, sway near the bridge of Heroes and along the wide embankment of Stalin. And so, when cars with blinding headlights roared right into your ears, running away along the tarmac, factory sirens howled, tractors going to collective farms rattled, and cyclists rang merrily, sedate Dardimandy began to shudder every minute, snort uneasily and gnaw at the bit. Neither the bit nor the mouthpiece can hold it. Stretching out his neck, curved like that of a swan, he rushed forward. I tried to curb his impulse, to take him in hand, but he, having brought forward the croup, suddenly went sideways.

Guram Dochanashvili

"A Thousand Little Worries"

They couldn't agree at all.

Come when you want, - the accountant repeated again and again.

And when all the same, you do not sit here from morning to evening!

Here's a man! If I say it, then I will.

Can't you tell for sure?

Anytime... Well, man! When you decide, then come...

What if I don't get you? Sandro interrupted the accountant irritably. - I'm running out of time.

Don't worry, you will. Is there a cigarette?

Both lit cigarettes and seemed to calm down; The accountant even leaned back in his chair, blowing smoke towards the ceiling with pleasure, but Sandro again began to doubt and asked, as if casually:

Do you actually visit in the morning or in the afternoon?

Listen, friend ... - The accountant was clearly offended. - I'm telling you, come any time. I won't be there, you'll wait for what you've done...

So I knew, - Sandro got nervous, - I'll lose the whole day here tomorrow! Understand, we leave the day after tomorrow morning.

In the morning? And Margo said - in the evening.

They are in the evening, and I have to go with the car in the morning ...

Okay, okay, calm down. You will arrive tomorrow and you will receive - money will be written out.

Please don't forget about money for the topographer.

I won't forget, how can I forget! Do not worry!

Guram Megrelishvili

"Writer"

I stage. How it all began

Like most young people of my generation, as a result of doing nothing, playing cards, dominoes and backgammon, smoking weed and reckless drinking, I fell into a deep depression. In my vocabulary with increasing frequency, phrases such as: - that's it, I'm hung up ... all over ... nothing shakes ... I'm already flying ... everything to a damn thing ... etc. In addition, I turned from a surprisingly accommodating boy into a conflicting, malicious-speaking and ruthless person.

I also had problems in my relationship with my parents (I hate: - Dad, give me two lari), I began to hate my relatives (they went ... what use are they?!), I hated the neighbors (and this sucker has such a car ?! ) and almost became a police officer.

My nerves were all over the place. No job, no job prospects, no job prospects. In short, the only dream that I have left is to grow old and die as soon as possible. And then the American book of wise thoughts fell into my hands. It was written in it:

II stage. What was written in the American book

wise thoughts: “If you don’t know what to do, get married!”

Leo Chiacheli

"Almasgir Kibulan"

Svans worked at the Lenkher logging, where the Khuberchala flows into the Enguri. Ten people gathered. Almasgir Kibulan, a resident of the remote village of Khalde, was also here. Almasgir stood out sharply among fellow countrymen with his heroic build - just like an old tower rises above ordinary Svan houses.

With Kibulan came his son Givergil. The fellow villagers nicknamed the young man “Dali gozal”, which means “Son of Dali” - he was such a successful hunter!

Givergil was barely fifteen years old, and his father took him to logging for the first time.

Almasgir was summoned from the village by his relative Bimurzola Margvelani. He was also from Khalde, but now lived permanently in Lenheri.

A year ago, Bimurzola agreed with the old contractor Kauza Pipia that by the beginning of next summer he would hand over a hundred selected pine logs of a certain size to him in the village of Jvari. By signing the agreement, Bimurzola received from the contractor a deposit and a permit for logging. In addition to Almasgir Kibulan and Givergil, Bimurzola recruited several more of his former neighbors - experienced lumberjacks.

Guram Petriashvili

"Baby Dinosaur"

In ancient times, dinosaurs grazed on the endless plain.

Dinosaurs were huge, enormous, each ten times the size of an elephant.

Clumsy, clumsy, they were too lazy to take an extra step. Stretching out their long neck, day and day they moved their heads from side to side. Only having plucked out all the grass in front of them, they reluctantly stepped on.

Dinosaurs grazed like that.

Slowly, unhurriedly they moved and moved their jaws.

Why were they in a hurry?

Grass - as much as you want, the end-edge of the plain is not visible.

Time passed unnoticed.

Baby dinosaurs appeared, learned to pluck grass, grew up, became big dinosaurs, and, like all others, ate grass from morning to evening, chewed and chewed.

But then one day a kid looked up from the grass. Then he stretched out his neck and raised his head even higher.

Oh, how wonderful, it turns out, to look up.

Niko Lomouri

"Mermaid"

I remember when I was still quite small and could not confidently hold in my hand not only a shepherd's whip, but even a rod used to drive oxen; at a time when I would not be entrusted not only with a herd, but even a piglet in the field - I had one cherished desire: I wanted to visit the forest. Everyone to whom I dared to express my desire invariably ridiculed me.

What you think is unprecedented - the forest! What, baby, did you bury a treasure there or sow pearl seeds?

Treasure! Pearl Grains! At that time, I did not even understand the meaning of these words. My desires did not extend so far then.

Usually my father and my three uncles brought me from the forest either pigeon eggs, or a hare, or small squeaky quails; they gave me handfuls of hazelnuts with firm juicy kernels - my favorite delicacy; they also brought me bunches of reddish flexible willow twigs, from which I then weaved small dams for the fish that lived in our stream. Every spring I received as a gift a small resonant pipe, skillfully carved from reeds.

I felt extremely happy at that time.

Egnate Ninoshvili

"Gogia Uishvili"

Again, an “ecutia” was placed in our village. Today the headman ran around everyone and announced: we must contribute ten rubles from the house for the maintenance of this "ecutia", and even firewood, hay, corn and so on! - with pain and hopelessness in her voice, Marina said to her husband Gogia in the evening, when he returned from work.

How! Again "ecutia"!.. Are you out of your mind, woman! If again they set up an "ecutia" for us, our hearth will cool down! .. - said Gogia, and his face frowned.

Are you angry with me, as if it was my fault! Marina reproached her husband.

Got it right! I'm angry with you! Understand what I'm talking about! You should have said to this anathema: pay the ransom, they say, pay for the corvee, and pay the church tax for the upkeep of the priest, pay the postal tax, and pay the road tax, and not even list what an abyss of taxes we must deliver with our hump. It didn’t seem enough to them, they say, the robbers are hiding in your place, they took and put the “ecutia” on us last year, ruined our village. That's what you should have told him! - so said Gogia, sitting down to the hearth.

Otar Chiladze

"Iron Theater"

1
The land was carried on carts. Muddy water bubbled up in the pits. Seedlings with roots wrapped in rags were scattered between the holes: some eccentric German decided to plant a garden on the sand. In the port, several half-rotted barges were rubbing their sides against each other. The distorted reflection of the mast swayed on the greenish surface of the sea. The seagulls screamed and burst into laughter. A dead horse was lying on the shore. From her open belly, a rat suddenly jumped out, cut through the air like a projectile, and flopped in the world. “Straight to Turkey,” said dad. But most surprising was the milkman. The milkman's can teased him with a white, smoking tongue. The milkman himself had a cap tied around his head, and a long motley pipe stuck out of his mouth, which he constantly sucked with a whistle. “I will put you in this vessel - your own father will never find you!” he said with a smile. Together with an empty can, he carried away the remnants of food from yesterday's table. After him, a rich smell remained on the balcony, warm and moist. This is how the morning began.

Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani

"On the Wisdom of Fiction"

There was once a king whose deeds no one can imagine; he accumulated so much mercy in his heart by kindness and beneficence that he himself could not measure it. He conquered the ardor and cruelty of his angry heart with a benevolent breath of God-fearing, with generosity he quenched the heat more than clouds carrying moisture; more abundant than the rain that falls from heaven were the gifts with which he rewarded people.
Fear and trembling before him seized the whole earth; people were more afraid of him than thunder, but his mercy and kindness were more captivating and sweeter than a mother's nipples for a baby.
The name of this great and illustrious king was Phinez.
He had a vizier, his wisdom reached the heavens. With his mind, he measured the length and breadth of the earth's firmament, with learning he penetrated into the abysses of the sea, air phenomena and star paths he inscribed on the tablets of his heart. With the meekness of his speeches, he tamed wild animals, likening them to people. At his word, the rocks melted like wax, the birds spoke with human voices.
The name of this vizier was Sedrak.

Chabua Amirejibi

"Gossip Magpie"

The fox, the donkey and the cuckoo were brought to the court to the lion magpie.
The lion yawned, put on his glasses and said:
- What was the magpie guilty of?
Lisa said:
- Magpie spread a rumor about me that I am tailless. I thought: I’ll pull my tail higher, everyone will see that I have a tail, and they won’t laugh at me anymore. Since then, I have become accustomed to walking. Hunters see me from afar. And what is it like for me now, dear judge, to live without a tail, judge for yourself! ..
The fox laid her tail on the table in front of the lion, all scorched and pierced by shot. The lion adjusted his glasses, examined him carefully, sighed, and said:
What a fluffy tail! No other animal had a tail like a fox!
The lion turned to the magpie and asked:
- Why did you lie?
- How did I know she had such a bushy tail? I made a mistake, forgive me! answered the magpie.

Daniel Chonkadze

"Surami fortress"

Last summer, when, exhausted by the unbearable heat, the inhabitants of Tbilisi were looking for coolness outside the city, several young people, and among them your obedient servant, agreed to gather every evening on the Sands, across the river, against the Anchiskhata church, and have fun there until late at night. . In our agreement there was such a condition: everyone had to tell some kind of legend, parable or story from Georgian life.
It was one of those beautiful evenings that are so often replaced by hot days in our country. Young people have just bathed in the river; some were drinking tea, others were still dressing, the rest surrounded D. B., - he, putting a tari on his knee, played something and hummed in an undertone. Some time later, when everyone had drunk tea and the servants began to prepare for dinner, the young people remembered that they had not yet heard another story that evening. They began to find out whose turn it is today; it turned out that everyone had already said something. They asked for one, asked for another - but there were no hunters. I had to draw lots. One of us, having risen from his seat, began to count: “Itsilo, bitsilo, shroshano ...”, etc. The counting ended with Niko D.
- Congratulations, Niko! Congratulations! they all shouted.
- No, friends, save me today. Really, I don’t know what to tell, I didn’t prepare.
- Oh, friend Niko! Remember God and start: “Once upon a time…”, and then it will go by itself, I assure you! - Said instructive tone Siko.
- Okay ... So listen! And Niko started.

Mikhail Lokhvitsky

"Search for the Gods"

The summer of 1867, March, the seventh day from the Nativity of Christ, according to the Gregorian calendar, or the first day of the month of Zul Qaada, 1233, according to the Muslim, or two weeks before the head day of the first month of the New, uncountable year from the generation of the Circassians by the Sun, according to According to the Adyghe chronology, the sky was blue over the mountains of the Caucasus, saturated with the hot radiance of a low and slowly floating daylight.
Hot rays melted the ice on the top of the mountain turned to the sun, streams of water crawled like snakes under the thickness of packed snow, blurred its connections with the frozen ground, and an avalanche, huge, like a Nart alp horse, barely audibly sighing, rushed into the ever accelerating run along the steep slope. , condensing the air. A firmament of snow and air tore off piles of rocks from the base, cut off, like blades of grass, crooked oaks, spruces, firs, and the gorge resounded with a quiet moan of horror.

Lado Mrelashvili

"The Boys from Ikalto"

In a thunderstorm
Thunder rumbled with such force that it drowned out the crackling and creaking of the trees bending under the gusts of wind. The downpour whipped like a bucket. Noisy streams rushed headlong along the slopes and plunged into the Ikalto ravine, where the swollen stream foamed and growled, turning stones. There was not a soul around. On the balconies of the houses and under the balconies, with their noses buried in warm fluffy tails, lay shaggy dogs. And only outside the outskirts, near the forest, in an old, abandoned barn, lightning flashed two boyish faces. Judging by their expressions, the boys were uneasy about the thunderstorm and wind raging outside the walls.
- Well, the night! - one of them said and sank down on the straw that covered the entire barn.
- Yes, we got here on time, otherwise we won’t dry out until morning.
- Ha-ha-ha! At home, now they are sure that I am with you. And your old people think that you are with us ...
- Quiet, Gogi, don't laugh so loudly!
- Nothing, Sandro, in such a noise no one will hear anyway.

Guram Panjikidze

"Seventh heaven"

1
Early July morning.
The air above the airfield is transparent and clean.
At the gangway TU-104, passengers are crowding and talking loudly. The stewardess, realizing the hopelessness of her efforts, tries to calm them down.
- Comrades! Comrades, take your time. You can do everything.
Levan Khidasheli stands at a distance and silently looks at his restless fellow travelers. He doesn't like fuss.
Buzzing like bees, the passengers disappear one by one into the dark opening of the entrance.
The last one had already disappeared, but Levan still did not move. The stewardess breathed a sigh of relief and only now noticed him. Levan felt eyes on him. Mechanically he reached into his pocket, wanted to pull out a box of cigarettes, but suddenly remembered that it was forbidden to smoke near the plane. He waved his hand in annoyance and picked up his duffel bag.
- Are you in Tbilisi? - asked the stewardess, glancing at the ticket.
Levan didn't answer.

Niko Lordkipanidze

"Bogatyr"

The Prangulashvilis have long been famous throughout Lower Imeretia for their heroic strength. No wonder they were often called Veshapidze. Indeed, they possessed as much monstrous power as monstrous gluttony. In battles, Veshapidze never claimed superiority, but they wielded a dagger the size of a buffalo yoke as if it were a light twig.
And they used this weapon in a peculiar way. If an enemy detachment approached in single file, Prangulashvili smashed the enemy directly in the chest or stomach, without making out whether it was bone or pulp, with one blow they planted two or three people on the tip of the dagger and gutted them like pigs. If the enemy advanced in a deployed formation, they struck backhand from the right ear to the left thigh, crushed two opponents with one blow, and the third itself fell to the ground, either from horror in front of a sparkling blade, or overturned by an air wave.
The Prangulashvilis usually sent only one warrior to the war, no more, no less, since their entire family consisted of one family.

Grigol Abashidze

"Long Night"

Georgian chronicle of the 13th century

CHAPTER FIRST
The children were playing by the stream that flowed along the stone trough. Among them was a young man, probably not more than sixteen years old, although in appearance, both in height and in the width of his shoulders, and in the serious thoughtfulness of his face, he looked much older than his years. The young man was carefully adjusting a toy mill wheel. He stuck thin forks on both sides of the stream, placed the axle of the wheel on them, and now gradually lowered it so that the light jet flying along an even trough touched the light wooden blades. Suddenly he pulled his hands away and straightened up. The wheel spun, spraying small cool drops onto the grass. Children crowded around the wonderful mill, crowding and interfering with each other.
Straightening up, the young man really turned out to be tall, broad-shouldered, slender. He stood over the stream, like a giant over a big river, leaning his feet on different banks. And the water, and the fuss of the children, their squeals and merry laughter were somewhere below, and the young man no longer saw either the water flying along the chute, or the merry wheel, or the children's faces. Behind the nearby noise and laughter, he discerned something in the distance that made him alert and listen. Then he darted to a wide gate that opened just onto the road.
A lop-eared donkey trotted along the road. Sitting on it was not yet old, but, apparently, an early heavy, flabby man. He was pale with that sickly pallor that appears when a person moves little, sees little of the sun and fresh air.

Literature is the thoughts, aspirations, hopes and dreams of the people. The art of the word, which can both hurt, hurt and crucify, and elevate, give meaning and make happy.

On the World Book and Copyright Day, which is annually celebrated in the world on April 23, Sputnik Georgia decided to analyze the Georgian literature of the present and offers the top 10 best writers of modern Georgia.

1. Guram Dochanashvili

Guram Dochanashvili is one of the brightest representatives of modern Georgian prose. Born in 1939 in Tbilisi. He owns stories, novellas, novels, essays. Dochanashvili is familiar to the Russian reader from the books "There, Beyond the Mountain", "Song Without Words", "Only One Man", "A Thousand Small Worries", "I Will Give You Three Times" and other works. Guram Dochanashvili's books are odes to love, kindness and sacrificial struggle, translated into many languages ​​​​of the world and repeatedly formed the basis of many films and performances.

The novel "The First Vestment" is the pinnacle of Guram Dochanashvili's work. It is written in the style of magical realism and is close in spirit to the Latin American novel. A fusion of utopia-dystopia, but 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 quotations. Unfortunately, the later works of Guram Dochanashvili have not been translated into Russian.

2. Aka Morchiladze

Aka Morchiladze (Georgy 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 award "Saba". Based on the works and scripts of Aka Morchiladze, such well-known 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 the detective genre. And for this reason, critics often compare him with Boris Akunin. However, in parallel with experiments in the genre of historical detective story, he also writes novels about the present. They are talking about something completely different: about a new type of relationship in society, about elitism, snobbery and teenagers. In Morchiladze's books, one can often find a stylization of the modern manner of speaking of Georgian society, as well as slang and jargon of modern Georgian colloquial speech.

3. Nino Kharatishvili

Nino Kharatishvili is a famous German writer and playwright from Georgia. Born in 1983 in Tbilisi. She studied as a film director, and then in Hamburg - as a theater director. As a playwright and director of a German-Georgian theater group, she attracted attention from an early age. In 2010, Kharatishvili became the laureate of the Prize. Adelbert von Chamisso, which is awarded to authors who write in German and whose work is affected by a changing cultural environment.

Nino Kharatishvili is the author of many prose texts and plays published in Georgia and Germany. In 2002 her first book "Der Cousin und Bekina" was published. Collaborated with various theater troupes. Currently he is a regular composer for the Deutsches Theater in Göttingen. “When I am in Georgia,” says Nino Kharatishvili, “I feel like an extremely 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 differently , then it can enrich. 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 books have been published. At present, 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 has been 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 Georgian Literary Prize "Saba" (2003, 2007).

5. Anna Kordzaia-Samadashvili

Anna Kordzaia-Samadashvili is a well-known Georgian author 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 Kordzaya-Samadashvili is a two-time laureate 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 by the Nobel Prize winner, Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek "Mistresses". In 2017, her collection of short stories, I, Marguerite, was included in the New York Public Library's list of the best works of women authors in the world.

6.Mikhail Gigolashvili

Mikhail Gigolashvili is a Georgian writer based in Germany. Born in 1954 in Tbilisi, graduated from the Faculty of Philology and postgraduate studies at Tbilisi State University. Candidate of Philological Sciences, author of studies of Fyodor Dostoevsky's work. 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 "Judea", "Tolmach", "Ferris Wheel" (choice of readers of the "Big Book" award), "Capture of Muscovy" (shortlist of the NOS award). Since 1991 he has been living in Saarbücken (Germany), teaching Russian at the University of Saarland.

This year, his novel "The Secret Year" won the Russian Prize in the "Large Prose" nomination. It tells about one of the most mysterious periods of Russian history, when Tsar Ivan the Terrible left the throne to Simeon Bekbulatovich and shut himself up for a year in the Alexander Sloboda. This is an actual 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 the Tbilisi State University. I. Javakhishvili and the German Institute of Cinematography and Television. Konrad Wolf in Potsdam. Nan'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 are Long Bright Days and My Happy Family. Ekvtimishvili shot these films in collaboration with her husband, director Simon Gross. In 2015, Nana Ekvtimishvili's debut novel "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 released in Russian.

At 33, Kekelidze is not just a fashionable writer and public figure, but also the country's chief librarian. Giorgi Kekelidze runs the Tbilisi National Parliamentary Library and is also the founder of the Book Museum. A native of the Georgian city of Ozurgeti (Guria region), George is the owner of almost all Georgian literary awards in Georgia. The foundation of the first Georgian electronic library is connected with his name. And Kekelidze 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 prose writer, TV journalist and lecturer. Born in Tbilisi in 1981, she graduated from the Faculty of Journalism of the Tbilisi State University. I. Javakhishvili. She worked on the First Channel of the Georgian Public Broadcaster: the host of the information program "Bulletin" and the morning edition of "Alioni".

Since 2011, he has been published in Georgian and foreign publications and magazines. In the same year, the first collection of her 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 stories "Asynchronous" 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 contemporary Georgia. He also published under the name Gregor Samsa. Zaza was born in 1973 in Tbilisi. He studied at the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts named after A. Kutateladze. The first publication is the story "Third Candy", published in 1998 in the Tbilisi newspaper "Alternative". Since that time he has been published in the newspaper "Alternativa" and in the magazine "Arili" ("Ray").

Separate editions of Zaza Burchuladze - a collection of short stories (1999), the 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.

There are a lot of them too.
Zoburn and I tried to find a brilliant Russian-speaking prose writer in Tbilisi to include in our RUSSIAN LESSONS series.
When the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed, a very high level of German literature continued to exist on the territory of its fragments.
One Kafka is worth what
Not to mention Meyrink, Werfel, Celan and so far away.
After the collapse of the Russian-Soviet. empires are getting smaller.
Maybe it's just a global shrinking and the collapse of literary centrism has occurred.
But haven't found it yet.
Although there are some interesting ones.
And they deserve to be published more in Russia.
In thick magazines.
And not only.
It is not easy for Russian-speaking writers in Georgia.

The sphere of influence of the Russian language has greatly narrowed in Georgia.
And Georgian writers have a hard life.
And the Russian-speakers ended up in the ghetto.
Here is a list of Russian-speaking writers of Georgia from my book (the main source was Anna Shakhnazarova and Mikhail Lyashenko, publishers of the Russian-language almanac "ABG". And also
prose writer, screenwriter and translator Maria Exer, poet and translator Anna Grig):

1) Vladimir Golovin is the editor-in-chief of the popular Russian-language newspaper Golovinsky Prospekt. He is also the author of an interesting local history book about Tbilisi.
There's a lot about all sorts of famous people. "Tbilisi types".
For example, about the city crazy Kiku.
When Khrushchev visited Tbilisi in the early 60s, the local Frondeurs drove Chiku around Tbilisi on an open "seagull".
Kika looked like Khrushchev.

2) Poetess and prose writer Susanna Armenian

3) Poet and prose writer Gagik Teymurazyan.
I saw him once and for a short time.
Too bad we didn't get to get in touch with him.
The author of unusual minimalist prose, which seems to be on the site "Vavilonv".
According to the latest information, he moved to live in Yerevan.

4) Elena Chernyaeva

5) The late prose writer Karen Abgarov.
His novels were published in Moscow.

6) Prose writer Natalia Gvelesiani
Published in New York's New Journal.
Received an award for the best story of this magazine.
One of the stories is called "Leaving Quietly".
The other is "Dog Color Road".

7) Prose writer Guram Svanidze

8) Prose writer Miho Mosulishvili (indicated by Maria Exer)

9) George Berejani (I met him through the gallery owner Rusiko Oat)
A man with a very interesting biography and extravagant prose.
In the 90s he lived in Russia.

11) Miho Sumanishvili (reported by Maria Exer)

12) Merab Lomiya (reported by Maria Exer)

13) Late bilingual poet Niko Gomilauri

14) Poet and prose writer Vladimir Meladze.

I have already written about Baadur Chkhatarashvili.
Also about poets Anna Grig and Inna Kulishova.
There are also very young Russian-speaking authors.
In the ABG studio, I listened to a witty and funny story by the prose writer Sergei Gorlyakov
Many Russian-speaking writers of Georgia were included in Chuprinin's reference book "Russian Literary Abroad".
But not all.
Later I will post some texts of Russian-speaking writers of Georgia on my LiveJournal.

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 left the most visible mark on the culture of their country.

Classic of Literature

One of the most famous writers of the 20th century is the author of novels and epics Chabua Amirejibi. He was born in 1921 in Tiflis. In 1944 he was arrested for participation in the White George political group and 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 arrested again 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 1990s, he was a deputy; 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 he wrote from 1973 to 1975. This is an epic work in which the author drew a reliable panorama of pre-revolutionary Georgian society. Data 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 shot.

Luka 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, therefore, was 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, devoted his whole life to the struggle 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", "Song of the Workers", "Desire", "Chonguri", "Dawn", "Little Kahi", "Bagrat the Great", "Natela". They brought up many patriotic ideals in the Georgian people.

Akaki Tsereteli died in 1915 at the age of 74.

"I, grandmother, Iliko and Illarion"

The author of the novel "I, grandmother, Iliko and Illarion" Nodar Dumbadze enjoys great popularity 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 the university in Tbilisi, but, having received a higher education, 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-Film".

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

"Canaglia"

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, he 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 The Woman's Burden was condemned by Soviet ideologists, claiming that the Bolsheviks were presented as real terrorists. 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.

He wrote his most famous novel, Canalla, 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, to the royal palace, to 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 prominent 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 that he explores in his books are love, friendship, service to art.

Gamsakhurdia is a well-known 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.

He created the "Academic Group", which called for art outside of politics. In 1925, the first novel was published under the title "The Smile of Dionysus", in which his aesthetic and philosophical views are presented in the most detailed way. 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.

Creativity Gamsakhurdia

During the years of Stalinist 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 Shorena, the beautiful daughter of feudal lord Talakva Kolonkelidze. 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 victims of a totalitarian regime, even though by outward signs they are on opposite sides of power. In his work, Gamsakhurdia describes in allegorical form the tragedy of Stalin's rule.

Similar topics are devoted to his tetralogy "David the Builder", which he wrote from 1946 to 1958. Its events unfold in the 12th 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 were forbidden to be published, and were published only after 1991.

Lavrenty Ardaziani

Lavrenty Ardaziani is considered the founder of realism among Georgian authors. 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 wealthy merchant and a real financial predator. In the novel "Journey along the sidewalks of Tbilisi" realistically tells about the life of the city, bullying officials over ordinary people.

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

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

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

Another Georgian writer that needs 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 takes 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 manuscript of a young writer is read only by a painter who happened to be in the editorial office.

Rezo Cheishvili died in Kutaisi in 2015.