Georgian Prose: book review

Mindia, the Son of Hogay and Other Stories by Georgian Writers (1966) is alternatively titled, Georgian Prose. It is part of the Library of Soviet Literature. There are 14 short stories by Georgian authors written from 1925 to 1962.

The title story written in 1937 by Konstantineh Gamsakhurdia (1893-1975) is a violent, bloody, vengeful story of the ongoing battle between the Khevsuris and Kistis hillsmen. Hogay’s two sons rescue their youngest brother, Mindia, from seven years in Kistis captivity, but not without losing a hundred good soldiers. To avenge Hogay’s death, his three sons, led by Mindia, seek his murderer, Kisti chieftain Dolay. In the attack Mindia takes refuge in a white tower, until a band of Kistis batter down the door. In between graphic phrases, such as ‘he smote … and clove him in twain’ (he struck … and split him in two) there are gracefully evocative phrases, such as ‘skirts flapped like raven’s wings’ and ‘The wind whirled withered leaves from the depths of the gorges, whipping them up to flutter like butterflies between heaven and earth.’

Treasure Trove (1958) by Demna Shengelaya (1896-1990) is a gentle loving story of Saulia working his tea plantation on Nadarbazevi Hill with his wife of three years, Phundu, and their shaggy dog Patsuria. He dug vigorously and worked hard, until the day he found a treasure trove on the hill. ‘For the first time in his life he had something to hide.’ He tells no one because he trusts no one, not even Phundu. When he doesn’t come home, Phundu looks for him. She finds him with the treasure trove, they argue, and she walks away. Later in the day Saulia seeks her forgiveness – to dire consequences.

Too Late (1925) by Mikhail Javakhishvili (1880-1937) is more psychological, and about choices. Toma, a linesman for twenty years, has an 18-year-old blind daughter Tina, whose mother died when she was six years old. The story commences with a lengthy father-daughter conversation about her beauty, what colours look like, and her dream to be married. She loves Kbacha who makes her laugh, but he goes to the city to work. She falls in love with her dog Growler and city-dweller Solo. Solo returns to the city for a week, promising to marry her when he returns to her village. He does not return so she goes to the city alone. Solo is impressed that she came looking for him, and takes her to a doctor to restore her sight. After eleven days the bandages are removed. She sees. She sees colours and the faces of people she had never seen before: her father, Kbacha, and Solo. She sees Kbacha’s youth and handsomeness and she sees Solo – the old, ugly, stooped, poor, homeless, crippled Solo. But Kbacha did not help her to restore her sight; Solo did. Whom does she choose to marry?

Almasghir Kibulan (1928) by Leo Kiacheli (1884-1964) is set in Svaneti, a remote mountainous region rich with pine trees. Almasghir Kibulan – ‘burly and rugged, sinewy and weather-beaten’ is a logger on contract to deliver 100 pine logs. His 15-year-old son, Givergila, is working with him. Father and son, armed with long poles, guide the logs to the left bank into a floating depot ‘like a flock of sheep panting for breath after being shorn.’ But when the dam breaks suddenly, Givergila cannot be seen in the wall of spume and spray.

Akaky Beliashvili (1902-1961) wrote Tsiala in 1937. Set in a remote ‘backwoods’ hamlet, Parsadan hopes for sons to help him on the land. After two daughters he thinks they should have a piano because they can’t work on the land – maybe they can entertain with music – although nobody in the village has any idea what a piano is. After nine daughters, with his wife in labour for the tenth time, he takes a gun to the field. He meets strangers hiking in the area. When they ask why he has a gun he says that if the child is a boy he will shoot into the air, and if it is a girl he will shoot himself. When the midwife hollers that the child is a girl, the hikers tell him he’s lucky. They offer to be her godfathers and call her Tsiala, meaning Radiance. When she is 30-years-old she gives her father what he has wanted for a very long time.

The Little Imps (1959) by Sergo Kldiashvili (1893-1986) is a generational tale. Lazare, from a hillside called The Fernery where he works in the vineyards, has five sons. They all marry and have children. These seven children (the little imps) have short childhoods because the burden of the land falls on their shoulders when their fathers fight overseas against Kaiser Wilhelm. When they become men, all seven marry, have children, and fight overseas agains Adolf Hitler.

Seen from an Express Train (1958) by Otia Ioseliani (1930-2011) is written in the first person by an engine-driver’s assistant. Every morning and afternoon when his train passes a village he sees a young girl in a red dress with a blue covered book waving a white handkerchief at the train. They always wave to each other. He thinks she can only see the whites of his eyes because his face is always blackened with soot. He makes up a name for her: Maya. When he has holidays he makes an unexpected visit to her house.

Hands (1960) by Elisher Kipiani (1924-) is about 21-year-old Melano, a homely, unattractive girl with the most beautiful voice. She is critical of her looks, but she loves life – ‘every moment of it’ – even her job in the Tbilisi Silk-Weaving Mill. She likes Vasso, an electrician. One day a newsreel camera crew come to make a documentary about the mill. They go straight to Tsiala’s loom (‘Everyone at the factory including Vasso is a little bit in love with her’). But suddenly the crew turn the spotlight on Melano fixing the broken thread on her loom. Secretly she goes to the cinema to see the documentary – and to see whether she is actually in the film – but what does she see and what does Vasso think?

There are no female authors represented, and these stories have all been translated so there are no authors who are proficient English writers. Nevertheless the various translators have done a good job interpreting sentiments and meanings with limited interruption to the authors'  literary styles.

These short stories are about warring generations, freedom, hardship, enduring and transitional love, loss, and depair. They are about families: fathers and sons, fathers and daughters, mothers and sons, (no mothers and daughters), husbands and wives, and young lovers. But mostly they are about citizens of small villages with big dreams.