Page 165 - 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
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Play, Chaos and Autonomy in the Poetry of Hungarians in Voivodina (Uj Symposion) 165
er, somewhere, as a necessary texture, there is always a memory—an open
wound, trace, or grief that cannot be cured by time. A contemporary of
Guram Rcheulishvili and Archil Sulakauri, Erlom Akhvlediani is also
oriented toward the Western literary standard. The writer boldly leads
the Georgian reader, still having the Soviet mentality, into the unusu-
al and deep layers of imagination. Later Erlom Akhvlediani’s book Vano
da Niko (Vano and Niko), which shattered the stereotypes of the world-
view, acquired a landmark importance for the history of Georgian litera-
ture (Ratiani 2018, 178).
Nodar Dumbadze (1928–1984) also began his literary career within
the Neo-Realistic mood, although later he resorted to the format of other
literary schools as well. In 1960 the writer’s Neo-Realistic novel Me, Be-
bia, Iliko da Ilarioni (I, Grandmother, Iliko, and Ilarion) created a furor.
This, at first glance, inoffensive, humorous text, narrating of the life of a
Georgian village during and after the Second World War and of kind, of-
ten naive adventures of its inhabitants, is tinged with great human sad-
ness. Laughter is again a protective mask; behind the mask the profound
sadness of people and their unsolved problems are covered: the parentless
existence of a little boy (a result of the war), pain and emptiness, and the
inability and incapability of people to prevent the tragedy of the war. Be-
hind the sad laughter the author demands answers to global questions:
Why is war necessary? Why wars are waged? Why do people die in wars?
What kind of imprint does a war leave on the life of a new generation?
Nodar Dumbadze’s humor mixed with sadness successfully moved into
several other of his texts as well; for example, into his next novel Me vk-
hedav mzes (I See the Sun).
The literary model of Soviet Neo-Realism could be considered one of
the main markers of current and future challenges in the literary life of
Georgia.
Establishment of Modern Georgian Literature
The main landmark of the metamorphosis of the time and its concepts as
well as that of the boundary of the decades (the 1950s and 1960s) is a his-
tory of a death. In 1959 a significant stage of the history of Georgian po-
etry of the twentieth century, distinguished by the fatal clash of Soviet
dictatorship and genuine poetry, ended in a tragedy. Galaktion Tabidze,
who had a negative attitude toward Soviet power from the outset, com-
mitted suicide. Discussing one of Tabidze’s poems, Teimuraz Doiashvi-
li notes:
er, somewhere, as a necessary texture, there is always a memory—an open
wound, trace, or grief that cannot be cured by time. A contemporary of
Guram Rcheulishvili and Archil Sulakauri, Erlom Akhvlediani is also
oriented toward the Western literary standard. The writer boldly leads
the Georgian reader, still having the Soviet mentality, into the unusu-
al and deep layers of imagination. Later Erlom Akhvlediani’s book Vano
da Niko (Vano and Niko), which shattered the stereotypes of the world-
view, acquired a landmark importance for the history of Georgian litera-
ture (Ratiani 2018, 178).
Nodar Dumbadze (1928–1984) also began his literary career within
the Neo-Realistic mood, although later he resorted to the format of other
literary schools as well. In 1960 the writer’s Neo-Realistic novel Me, Be-
bia, Iliko da Ilarioni (I, Grandmother, Iliko, and Ilarion) created a furor.
This, at first glance, inoffensive, humorous text, narrating of the life of a
Georgian village during and after the Second World War and of kind, of-
ten naive adventures of its inhabitants, is tinged with great human sad-
ness. Laughter is again a protective mask; behind the mask the profound
sadness of people and their unsolved problems are covered: the parentless
existence of a little boy (a result of the war), pain and emptiness, and the
inability and incapability of people to prevent the tragedy of the war. Be-
hind the sad laughter the author demands answers to global questions:
Why is war necessary? Why wars are waged? Why do people die in wars?
What kind of imprint does a war leave on the life of a new generation?
Nodar Dumbadze’s humor mixed with sadness successfully moved into
several other of his texts as well; for example, into his next novel Me vk-
hedav mzes (I See the Sun).
The literary model of Soviet Neo-Realism could be considered one of
the main markers of current and future challenges in the literary life of
Georgia.
Establishment of Modern Georgian Literature
The main landmark of the metamorphosis of the time and its concepts as
well as that of the boundary of the decades (the 1950s and 1960s) is a his-
tory of a death. In 1959 a significant stage of the history of Georgian po-
etry of the twentieth century, distinguished by the fatal clash of Soviet
dictatorship and genuine poetry, ended in a tragedy. Galaktion Tabidze,
who had a negative attitude toward Soviet power from the outset, com-
mitted suicide. Discussing one of Tabidze’s poems, Teimuraz Doiashvi-
li notes:
