FEAST OR FAMINE

A Foreign Affair   (2012) is a true tale of a young translator’s work in the United Nations and her travels abroad. Based in Geneva in the 1950s, women translators were a rarity. Barnes was fluent in four languages: English, Russian, Italian and Spanish, and much in demand as a simultaneous interpreter. There are two threads throughout the novel: the autobiographical world of international language translating in the newly-formed United Nations from 1948; and a portrait of a failing marriage. At 20, Valerie, an Englishwoman, marries Gerard, a French research engineer and a domineering, unfaithful man who openly displayed his mistresses to 'naïve' wife. Valerie begins an affair with Janek, a Polish engineer, who travels frequently to Geneva. Much of the book concentrates on the gradual erosion of her marriage and how her work, affair, and three children provide the solace to keep going. Her work liberated Valerie professionally, and Janek liberated her sexually. A...

Last week I visited a Georgian secondary school and participated in a Year 9 English class. The students were all conversant in Georgian, Russian, and English. Having studied Russian, German, French, American, British, and Australian literature, as well as the science fiction genre, I was interested in their selection of literature for classroom study. Recently, the class has been reading John Steinbeck's 1937 novella "Of Mice and Men" and the 1942 Albert Camus novel "The Outsider" (L'Etranger). Next on their list is J.D. Salinger's 1951 classic "Catcher in the Rye." I was asked questions about Australia, my homeland, and was asked to present my list of Australian literature for a hypothetical Year 9 syllabus. I chose the following: Thea Astley, Drylands (1999) Thea Astley is one of Australia’s most frequent winners of literary awards. Her protagonists are often women who are searching for partners, for peace, or for an ide...

Although I was in the region in autumn, from mid January to the end of March, Gudauri, three hours north of Tbilisi, is a popular ski resort. There are more than 30 different ski routes in six locations around the picturesque region near Gudauri with varying degrees of difficulty. Off trail downskill heliskiing and heliboarding is also offered by a Georgian-French company that commenced operating in the area last year and in the Caucasus since 1992. The mountainous area has ski runs from 11,500 to 30,000 vertical metres. MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

Georgia Today released information on a South Caucasus survey conducted in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan by CARE International. Although the sample size was low - CARE polled 394 people from 24 communities - it's a "partial picture" of their views on a range of questions regarding women's participation in politics. Currently in the South Caucasus women's participation in political processes is low. Globally 19.2% of parliamentarians are women. In post-Soviet countries 17.9% of parliamentarians are women. However, in Georgia only 6% are women.  Only 26% of respondents (34% of men and 19% of women) said they were not prepared to vote for a woman as president. However, 34% said they'd vote a woman into other political posts. There has only been one female presidential candidate in Georgia and that was in the 2008 presidential election in which she received less than 1% of the vote (based more on her platform and less on her gender - her pla...

The Second International Congress of Caucasiologists was held in Tbilisi from 9-13 November 2010 to support interaction between scientists and to examine the theme, Caucasian Civilization: History and Modernity. The Georgia Today newspaper reported that the Congress intended to "examine the region's place in the modern world and how peace between and within its multiethnic, multicultural and multiconfessional nations can be achieved." The Congress hosted over 200 speakers from Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, the Northern Caucasian Autonomous Republics (Russian Federation), America, and Europe. The first Congress was held in 2007 as a cooperative venture between the Institute of Caucasia Studies at Iv. Kavakhishvili Tbilisi State University (TSU) and the Arnold Chikobava Institute of Linguistics. The two institutes have combined again to host the Second Congress. The aim is for stronger "geopolitical and economic unity" and for the central Caucasus ...

Wikipedia.org Lanchester’s 2007 memoir commences with his mother, the central focus of his life. Not because she is his mother, but because her story is fascinating, intriguing, heart-warming, protective, private and, above all, secret. It’s her secret that Lanchester discovers after her death. In revealing his mother’s secret, he commences with her life, and the life of her parents, before she meets his father. The story of his father, and the life of his parents, is equally interesting. Then they meet, and that’s when his mother does something for love: something that she hides for the rest of her life: something unethical, criminal, and exceptionally easy to do at the time. But her guilt and anxiety continues throughout her life. Family Romance is a tale of constant uprooting to live in different countries, a tale of boarding schools and abandonment, a tale of disconnectedness and loneliness, of multiple identities, and of pani...

The local Georgian newspaper, Financial, states that "Tbilisi, Georgia, could be considered one of the most expensive cities to live in" taking into consideration the local wages. Prices, it adds, are high for services such as internet usage, car rental, accommodation, and consumer non-durable goods. The main reasons for the high prices are given as: (1) the negative trade balance; (2) monopolistic prices; (3) small market; (4) low competition; and (5) the high import rates. The Travelsupermarket company, according to their poll, says Georgia is the most expensive car hire destination in the world. In Tbilisi an individual can hire a car for 664 EUR for 7 days (USD$912; AUD$910), whereas in Dublin it would cost 77 EUR (USD$106). Internet usage costs an average USD$17 for 5mb/second, whereas in United States it would cost USD$4 for 5mb/second. Renting a 3-room apartment in Georgia costs 1,500-2,000 EUR (USD$2,060-$2,746) a month.

Timeless (2008 English edition) is the first ever internationally published novel written by a Georgian is an aristocratic love story crossing many borders: Georgia, France, Switzerland, and America. The author Nicholas Tchkotoua (1909-1984) was a prince, who died in Switzerland, but his heart is buried in Tbilisi, Georgia. The story commences in 1897, eight years after the completion of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Prince Shota d’Iberio, after studying in Paris, returns home to Georgia where he meets a Russian princess. Written in the first person, the Prince is smitten, totally obsessed, with the tall and slender Princess Taya Rurikova. The Prince’s love takes the reader on the Batumi-Tbilisi railway line, completed in 1883, first to the capital of Georgia and the backdrop of the Trialet Mountains, to the “splendid mansions, broad avenues and handsome parks.”  From the balmy climate of Tbilisi he takes Taya and her governess to Samegrelo by train, Zugdi...

My favourite five star hotels: 1. Imperial Hotel, New Delhi, India What I love: - the restored 1930s four-storey, low rise, Victorian-style architecture and the 24 king palms entrance to the hotel - the art – paintings, etchings, and sketches – in the rooms and hallways (it’s like staying in a museum) - the floral displays in the foyer and throughout the hotel (the theme is changed each month) - the spacious rooms with French linen and Art Deco style - the staff – they are all totally dedicated and professional – and the room is cleaned twice a day - breakfast in the morning on The Verandah - The Spice Route restaurant, the 1911 bar, and San Gimignano restaurant - their writing paper 2. The Regent Esplanade, Zagreb, Croatia What I love: - the restored 1925 hotel, originally on the Orient Express route - the bathroom with luxurious decor, large bath, well-lit mirrors, and bathrobe - the spacious rooms with Art Nouveau and Art Deco furnishings - Le Bistro Esplanade ...