Page 167 - 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. 167
Play, Chaos and Autonomy in the Poetry of Hungarians in Voivodina (Uj Symposion) 167
manifested in the fact that the European literature of the twentieth centu-
ry is traced back not only to its own European traditions (medieval cultur-
al tradition in novels by Umberto Eco), but also to African traditions (Pi-
casso’s cubism) and Oriental traditions (stories by Fazil Iscander) (Borev
2001, 461–462).
The Soviet machinery was also unable to oppose this tendency, the
more so after the war, when even ordinary soldiers were given the oppor-
tunity to see European countries (many of them did not even return to
the Soviet Union). The tendency of ‘heredity’ and ‘division’ little by little
emerged in the already modified Soviet literary area. Coherence not only
with Georgian, but also with non-Georgian, world literary, and cultural
tradition is revealed by Georgian literature of the second half of the twen-
tieth century, which gradually opened the circle formed by the regime,
transforming it first into a spiral, and then into an open construction, in
order to finally achieve freedom.
One of the outcomes of those processes was the rise of women’s writ-
ing. The first important author of women’s writing is Ana Kalandadze
(1924–2008), who went through quite a thorny experience of relations
with Soviet power. In addition to the fact that her poetic voice was dis-
tinguished by the innovativeness and progressiveness that were topical
for the new period, the appearance of a talented female poet in the po-
etic arena, where women’s literature was in a marginal position, also had
a significant gender loading. The work of Ana Kalandadze became one
the earliest manifestations of the liberation of poetic discourse from So-
viet political influence. By means of emotional, pensive verse, based on
minimalist manner, Kalandadze’s poetry bears an organic resemblance
to the visions of contemporary Western female poets. However, in Kala-
ndadze’s poetry a woman’s vision is elegantly intertwined with the tradi-
tional Georgian model of national consciousness—that is, with the sys-
tem of Georgian historical, mythological, and cultural archetypes—due
to which her poetry retains the form of an original poetic model (Ra-
tiani 183). At the beginning of the 1960s and later in the 1960s and into
the 1970s, the history of contemporary Georgian poetry—in the form
of liberalized poetic discourse—consists of young poets such as Shota
Chantladze, Otar Chiladze, Tamaz Chiladze, Mukhran Machavariani,
Murman Lebanidze, Givi Gegechkori, Shota Nishnianidze, Archil Su-
lakauri, Tariel Chanturia, Vakhtang Javakhadze, Mikheil Kvlividze, Jan-
sugh Charkviani, Emzar Kvitashvili, Rezo Amashukeli, and Moris Pot-
skhishvili. This is an incomplete list of the poets of the 1960s in whose
poetic texts the influence of Western literary fashion is clearly observ-
manifested in the fact that the European literature of the twentieth centu-
ry is traced back not only to its own European traditions (medieval cultur-
al tradition in novels by Umberto Eco), but also to African traditions (Pi-
casso’s cubism) and Oriental traditions (stories by Fazil Iscander) (Borev
2001, 461–462).
The Soviet machinery was also unable to oppose this tendency, the
more so after the war, when even ordinary soldiers were given the oppor-
tunity to see European countries (many of them did not even return to
the Soviet Union). The tendency of ‘heredity’ and ‘division’ little by little
emerged in the already modified Soviet literary area. Coherence not only
with Georgian, but also with non-Georgian, world literary, and cultural
tradition is revealed by Georgian literature of the second half of the twen-
tieth century, which gradually opened the circle formed by the regime,
transforming it first into a spiral, and then into an open construction, in
order to finally achieve freedom.
One of the outcomes of those processes was the rise of women’s writ-
ing. The first important author of women’s writing is Ana Kalandadze
(1924–2008), who went through quite a thorny experience of relations
with Soviet power. In addition to the fact that her poetic voice was dis-
tinguished by the innovativeness and progressiveness that were topical
for the new period, the appearance of a talented female poet in the po-
etic arena, where women’s literature was in a marginal position, also had
a significant gender loading. The work of Ana Kalandadze became one
the earliest manifestations of the liberation of poetic discourse from So-
viet political influence. By means of emotional, pensive verse, based on
minimalist manner, Kalandadze’s poetry bears an organic resemblance
to the visions of contemporary Western female poets. However, in Kala-
ndadze’s poetry a woman’s vision is elegantly intertwined with the tradi-
tional Georgian model of national consciousness—that is, with the sys-
tem of Georgian historical, mythological, and cultural archetypes—due
to which her poetry retains the form of an original poetic model (Ra-
tiani 183). At the beginning of the 1960s and later in the 1960s and into
the 1970s, the history of contemporary Georgian poetry—in the form
of liberalized poetic discourse—consists of young poets such as Shota
Chantladze, Otar Chiladze, Tamaz Chiladze, Mukhran Machavariani,
Murman Lebanidze, Givi Gegechkori, Shota Nishnianidze, Archil Su-
lakauri, Tariel Chanturia, Vakhtang Javakhadze, Mikheil Kvlividze, Jan-
sugh Charkviani, Emzar Kvitashvili, Rezo Amashukeli, and Moris Pot-
skhishvili. This is an incomplete list of the poets of the 1960s in whose
poetic texts the influence of Western literary fashion is clearly observ-
