WHERE does Georgian poetry stand today

Inga Zhgenti   |   September 5, 2024

WHERE does Georgian poetry stand today? The question of the same context, logically, is to be asked about Georgia, the country, located at the intersection of Europe and Asia, especially in the ongoing turbulent political situation, when its 20% is occupied by Russia, now in an ongoing war against Ukraine. Still, the question is absolutely legitimate about contemporary Georgian poetry, in the country of such big names like Shota Rustaveli, Nikoloz Baratashvili, Galaktion Tabidze, etc., but not at all few for such a small nation. Georgian poetry today is neither behind, nor at the border of the map of the poetry world, but truly at the crossroads where the national Georgian poetic tradition merges conceptual and stylistic aesthetics of European, American and Oriental poetic mindset. Through translation, words of poetry travel beyond borders, consequently, Georgian authors have never missed the opportunity to read and reflect on what others think and write. Accordingly, the translation and publication of Georgian poetic works internationally is unreservedly imperative. The insights and concerns of modern Georgian poetry are suffused with deeply philosophical, sophisticated and mature voices, questioning the achievability of any logical assumptions, conclusions and explanations of the human role in the universe in which the future is “obscure and insecure”:

‍“Did you know that

a human invents a thousand things

to avoid loathing the self

and pursue life

as if there were no inane deaths of children,

as if adults don’t get their brains whitewashed,

and as if the future didn’t seem so obscure and insecure.”

(Paata Shamugia, The Midnight Catechism)

The same Paata Shamugia masterfully applies utterly profound humor to wade through the cruelty and injustice of existence, in order to survive and go on:

“And the one who lives to die for poetry,

will be killed by the prose of life.

The one who dies, will rise

or be resurrected (depending on the dictionary used).

The one who shoots birds,

will die a dog’s death,

accompanied by weird twittering

from the other side of the walls,

but not the twittering of birds.

The one who flies away,

will fail to fly back,

though, let’s face the truth-

the one will never get the chance to fly,

so regrettable.

But this is how the dialectic of life works-

without any likelihood of desire

or joy to alter it.“

(Paata Shamugia, Elementary Binaries; Translated by Inga Zhghenti)


Full article: https://www.upplittmagasin.se/artikel/where-does-georgian-poetry-stand-today