Page 176 - 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. 176
Ideology in the 20th Century: studies of literary and social discourses and practices
me. I know that journal Kavkasioni sent to me was seized” (Kharazish-
vili 2004, 143).
Literary criticism was therefore under the strict directives of the re-
gime and its Marxist–Leninist philosophy. In the introduction to Vol-
ume I: Old Literature of the six-volume edition of The History of Georgian
Literature, one reads:
The present volume one of The History of Georgian Literature is based on new
literary materials discovered in recent years; whereas the approach must
change toward texts that have been known for a long time, they must be
analyzed once again on the basis of historical decrees of the Central Com-
mittee of the All-Union Communist Party according to the new approach-
es stated in these decrees. At present, on the basis of the instructions of the
176 Party, the need for critical development of the cultural and literary heritage
of the past is noted categorically and definitely (Leonidze 1960, 6).
There existed other methodological approaches to Georgian literature.
They are to be found in the works of Shalva Nutsubidze (1888–1969:
Rustaveli and the Oriental Renaissance, 1947; Work of Rustaveli, 1958)
and Mose Gogiberidze (1897–1949: Origins of Rustaveli’s Worldview,
1937; The Concept of the Supreme Being in The Knight in the Panther’s
Skin, 1941). Both of them were educated in Germany, at the universi-
ties of Leipzig and Berlin, and were acquainted with the evolutionary,
psychological, and sociological criticism of the time. On the basis of this
kind of criticism, they argued with Marxist scholarship, but they fell vic-
tim to political repression in the 1940s. Gogiberidze was arrested on the
charge of being an agent of the Third Reich and died in the Aktobe (Rus-
sian: Aktyubinsk) gulag.
As can be seen, Nozadze’s role in Georgian literary criticism is not
easy to determine, not only because he was an emigrant but mainly due to
his opposition to the ideological context governing Georgian scholarship
of the time. The main locus of his opposition, that of Rustaveli’s world
outlook and religious beliefs, is seen precisely in The Theology of The
Knight in the Panther’s Skin. In this work, Nozadze openly contests the
ideological view of Soviet scholarship, and thus the change in the recep-
tion of his works in Soviet-Georgian literary criticism should mainly be
attributed to this fact.
The Theology of The Knight in the Panther’s Skin by Viktor Nozadze
In the first half of the twentieth century, the issue of Rustaveli’s world
outlook in particular acquired significance among researchers in Rustave-
me. I know that journal Kavkasioni sent to me was seized” (Kharazish-
vili 2004, 143).
Literary criticism was therefore under the strict directives of the re-
gime and its Marxist–Leninist philosophy. In the introduction to Vol-
ume I: Old Literature of the six-volume edition of The History of Georgian
Literature, one reads:
The present volume one of The History of Georgian Literature is based on new
literary materials discovered in recent years; whereas the approach must
change toward texts that have been known for a long time, they must be
analyzed once again on the basis of historical decrees of the Central Com-
mittee of the All-Union Communist Party according to the new approach-
es stated in these decrees. At present, on the basis of the instructions of the
176 Party, the need for critical development of the cultural and literary heritage
of the past is noted categorically and definitely (Leonidze 1960, 6).
There existed other methodological approaches to Georgian literature.
They are to be found in the works of Shalva Nutsubidze (1888–1969:
Rustaveli and the Oriental Renaissance, 1947; Work of Rustaveli, 1958)
and Mose Gogiberidze (1897–1949: Origins of Rustaveli’s Worldview,
1937; The Concept of the Supreme Being in The Knight in the Panther’s
Skin, 1941). Both of them were educated in Germany, at the universi-
ties of Leipzig and Berlin, and were acquainted with the evolutionary,
psychological, and sociological criticism of the time. On the basis of this
kind of criticism, they argued with Marxist scholarship, but they fell vic-
tim to political repression in the 1940s. Gogiberidze was arrested on the
charge of being an agent of the Third Reich and died in the Aktobe (Rus-
sian: Aktyubinsk) gulag.
As can be seen, Nozadze’s role in Georgian literary criticism is not
easy to determine, not only because he was an emigrant but mainly due to
his opposition to the ideological context governing Georgian scholarship
of the time. The main locus of his opposition, that of Rustaveli’s world
outlook and religious beliefs, is seen precisely in The Theology of The
Knight in the Panther’s Skin. In this work, Nozadze openly contests the
ideological view of Soviet scholarship, and thus the change in the recep-
tion of his works in Soviet-Georgian literary criticism should mainly be
attributed to this fact.
The Theology of The Knight in the Panther’s Skin by Viktor Nozadze
In the first half of the twentieth century, the issue of Rustaveli’s world
outlook in particular acquired significance among researchers in Rustave-
