Page 164 - Vinkler, Jonatan, Ana Beguš and Marcello Potocco. Eds. 2019. Ideology in the 20th Century: Studies of literary and social discourses and practices. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 164
Ideology in the 20th Century: studies of literary and social discourses and practices
as the change of the engine of the ideological machine allowed it to ori-
ent itself toward human problems and to react to actual deep, often un-
healed wounds. Perhaps, this is the charm of Neo-Realism, which, unlike
the classical Realism of the nineteenth century, is able to exist with al-
most equal effectiveness under the conditions of dissimilar political and
social systems.
If one accepts the definition above, it is possible to define Gu-
ram Rcheulishvili (1934–1960), Archil Sulakauri (1927–1997), and Er-
lom Akhvlediani (1933–2012) as the main representatives of Georgian
Neo-Realist prose at the end of the 1950s. Their work can be regarded as a
successful attempt to return from the isolation of Soviet literature to the
international literary process, accomplished after slightly less than thir-
ty years from the destruction of Georgian Modernism. Guram Rcheul-
164 ishvili’s prose is proof of the fundamental changes of literary subjects and
style, by means of which the writer completely disowns the cultural-sty-
listic model of Homo sovieticus and is directed toward conceptual, emo-
tional, and representational freedom. His legacy includes numerous bril-
liant stories and novellas, such as Bizia kotes shemodgoma (Uncle Kote’s
Autumn), Sikvaruli martis tveshi (Love in March), Neli tango (The Slow
Tango), and Alaverdoba, which in a realistic manner of vision and lacon-
ic style of narration depict postwar cities and people that feel sadness and
pain, tackle everyday monotony and small problems, adhere to high mor-
al principles and civil values, and at the same time are full of love, nostal-
gia, and an insatiable desire to support one another. For Rcheulishvili the
world is built on the Neo-Realistic play of chiaroscuro. It should be not-
ed that, despite introducing a new narrative strategy, Rcheulishvili does
not reject the characteristics of Georgian classical narrative, manifested
in the traditionally conceived reflection of the Georgian character and
anguish. Instead, his works harmoniously combine the classical narrative
with the modern narrative technique (see Tsereteli 1961; Asatiani 2002;
Jaliashvili 2014). In the opinion of Georgian literary history, despite his
early death Rcheulishvili thus became of the most influential authors in
modern Georgian literature.
The first stories by Archil Sulakauri—Talghebi napirisken miistsrapi-
an (Waves Strive for the Shore), Tsqaldidoba (The Flood), Mtredebi (Pi-
geons), and Bichi da dzaghli (A Boy and a Dog)—are also filled with the
Neo-Realistic mood. Despite the vicinity of the war, people are gradually
returning to leading a normal life and, along with this, to the world of hu-
man feelings, frozen in the cold of the war, or perhaps thawed by the post-
war tears: feelings of love, expectations, excitement, and hopes. Howev-
as the change of the engine of the ideological machine allowed it to ori-
ent itself toward human problems and to react to actual deep, often un-
healed wounds. Perhaps, this is the charm of Neo-Realism, which, unlike
the classical Realism of the nineteenth century, is able to exist with al-
most equal effectiveness under the conditions of dissimilar political and
social systems.
If one accepts the definition above, it is possible to define Gu-
ram Rcheulishvili (1934–1960), Archil Sulakauri (1927–1997), and Er-
lom Akhvlediani (1933–2012) as the main representatives of Georgian
Neo-Realist prose at the end of the 1950s. Their work can be regarded as a
successful attempt to return from the isolation of Soviet literature to the
international literary process, accomplished after slightly less than thir-
ty years from the destruction of Georgian Modernism. Guram Rcheul-
164 ishvili’s prose is proof of the fundamental changes of literary subjects and
style, by means of which the writer completely disowns the cultural-sty-
listic model of Homo sovieticus and is directed toward conceptual, emo-
tional, and representational freedom. His legacy includes numerous bril-
liant stories and novellas, such as Bizia kotes shemodgoma (Uncle Kote’s
Autumn), Sikvaruli martis tveshi (Love in March), Neli tango (The Slow
Tango), and Alaverdoba, which in a realistic manner of vision and lacon-
ic style of narration depict postwar cities and people that feel sadness and
pain, tackle everyday monotony and small problems, adhere to high mor-
al principles and civil values, and at the same time are full of love, nostal-
gia, and an insatiable desire to support one another. For Rcheulishvili the
world is built on the Neo-Realistic play of chiaroscuro. It should be not-
ed that, despite introducing a new narrative strategy, Rcheulishvili does
not reject the characteristics of Georgian classical narrative, manifested
in the traditionally conceived reflection of the Georgian character and
anguish. Instead, his works harmoniously combine the classical narrative
with the modern narrative technique (see Tsereteli 1961; Asatiani 2002;
Jaliashvili 2014). In the opinion of Georgian literary history, despite his
early death Rcheulishvili thus became of the most influential authors in
modern Georgian literature.
The first stories by Archil Sulakauri—Talghebi napirisken miistsrapi-
an (Waves Strive for the Shore), Tsqaldidoba (The Flood), Mtredebi (Pi-
geons), and Bichi da dzaghli (A Boy and a Dog)—are also filled with the
Neo-Realistic mood. Despite the vicinity of the war, people are gradually
returning to leading a normal life and, along with this, to the world of hu-
man feelings, frozen in the cold of the war, or perhaps thawed by the post-
war tears: feelings of love, expectations, excitement, and hopes. Howev-
