Page 173 - 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. 173
The Forbidden Homeland: Viktor Nozadze’s Scholarly Activity 173
spying, and political indifference; they were shot or sent to the gulag.3
Those that had emigrated were deprived of the right of choice: their emi-
gration, which was deemed by many of them to be temporary, turned into
a permanent situation after the Second World War.
Years of Emigration
Before the Second World War, Viktor Nozadze lived in Paris and was en-
gaged in journalism. He published articles in Georgian emigrant peri-
odicals, the newspaper Tetri Giorgi, and the journals Kartlosi, Mamuli,
and Kavkasioni. These publications played a very important role in pre-
serving the national and mental identity of Georgian emigres. After Ger-
many declared war on the Soviet Union, Georgian emigrants naively be-
lieved that, in the case of victory, Germany would carry out the policy of
the First World War, and they therefore saw Nazi Germany as an instru-
ment for restoration of the independence of Georgia, which had been ex-
tinguished by the Bolsheviks. However, the so-called Great Patriotic War
ended in the victory of the Soviet Union; Soviet Georgia was a member
of the ‘single brotherly family’ actively engaged in building the socialist
future, and the Georgian emigration lost hope of returning. Some of the
emigres attempted to dispel their nostalgia by means of publishing and
scholarship, one of them being Nozadze, who avoided the postwar ten-
sions in South America, where he engaged in scholarly work and start-
ed systematically studying Shota Rustaveli’s The Knight in the Panther’s
Skin and its connection with world culture. His work made it easier for
later researchers to determine the place of Georgian literature—and, spe-
cifically, The Knight in the Panther’s Skin—in the context of world civili-
zation. Nozadze started his study (or, in his own words, ‘scrutiny’) of The
Knight in the Panther’s Skin during his Berlin period at the end of the
Second World War, but the book publication of his work only became
possible in South America.
The outcome of Viktor Nozadze’s long-term research can be summa-
rized as follows: in the development of world culture, the Georgian na-
tion was not a supplier, but a receiver. It has to be added that, following
the views of Richard Reitzenstein and Otto von Wesendonk, Nozadze
imagined the nation as an organism, which is why his remarks were not
only applied to literary processes. Reitzenstein believed that in observ-
ing the development of a nation one should not seek originality or even
a unique identity, but ability and power by means of which the nation
3 Viktor Nozadze’s brother, the futurist poet Paliko Nozadze, was shot in 1937.
spying, and political indifference; they were shot or sent to the gulag.3
Those that had emigrated were deprived of the right of choice: their emi-
gration, which was deemed by many of them to be temporary, turned into
a permanent situation after the Second World War.
Years of Emigration
Before the Second World War, Viktor Nozadze lived in Paris and was en-
gaged in journalism. He published articles in Georgian emigrant peri-
odicals, the newspaper Tetri Giorgi, and the journals Kartlosi, Mamuli,
and Kavkasioni. These publications played a very important role in pre-
serving the national and mental identity of Georgian emigres. After Ger-
many declared war on the Soviet Union, Georgian emigrants naively be-
lieved that, in the case of victory, Germany would carry out the policy of
the First World War, and they therefore saw Nazi Germany as an instru-
ment for restoration of the independence of Georgia, which had been ex-
tinguished by the Bolsheviks. However, the so-called Great Patriotic War
ended in the victory of the Soviet Union; Soviet Georgia was a member
of the ‘single brotherly family’ actively engaged in building the socialist
future, and the Georgian emigration lost hope of returning. Some of the
emigres attempted to dispel their nostalgia by means of publishing and
scholarship, one of them being Nozadze, who avoided the postwar ten-
sions in South America, where he engaged in scholarly work and start-
ed systematically studying Shota Rustaveli’s The Knight in the Panther’s
Skin and its connection with world culture. His work made it easier for
later researchers to determine the place of Georgian literature—and, spe-
cifically, The Knight in the Panther’s Skin—in the context of world civili-
zation. Nozadze started his study (or, in his own words, ‘scrutiny’) of The
Knight in the Panther’s Skin during his Berlin period at the end of the
Second World War, but the book publication of his work only became
possible in South America.
The outcome of Viktor Nozadze’s long-term research can be summa-
rized as follows: in the development of world culture, the Georgian na-
tion was not a supplier, but a receiver. It has to be added that, following
the views of Richard Reitzenstein and Otto von Wesendonk, Nozadze
imagined the nation as an organism, which is why his remarks were not
only applied to literary processes. Reitzenstein believed that in observ-
ing the development of a nation one should not seek originality or even
a unique identity, but ability and power by means of which the nation
3 Viktor Nozadze’s brother, the futurist poet Paliko Nozadze, was shot in 1937.
