The beginnings
Georgian literature began with Christianity after the invention of the alphabet in the 4th century. In the High Middle Ages, it was essentially religious, alongside princely chronicles. The first preserved work is The Martyrdom of Shushanik, attributed to Iakob Tsurtaveli (6th century). From the 7th century onwards, Georgian monks translated religious works (the lives of saints, the Bible). At the same time, original works, such as the sermons of Bishop Joanna of Bolnissi, were created. The 11th and 12th centuries are marked by a Persian influence( GeorgianVis ramiani, translated and adapted from the Persian Vis and Ramin ). It is impossible not to mention Chota Roustaveli (1172-1216), one of the greatest Georgian writers of the Middle Ages, often referred to as "the Homer of the Caucasus". Indeed, his greatest work, The Tiger-skinned Knight, is an epic composed of 1,671 quatrains, a masterpiece of Georgian literature. A work that is found in every home and studied at school. No student can miss this literary work.
The following centuries
During the Mongolian domination, literature will experience a certain decline. It is only at the end of the 17th century that the period of the "Silver Age" begins and ends in the 19th century. During this period a secular and philosophical literature will develop. Soulkhan-Saba Orbeliani (1658-1725), also a statesman who went to the court of Louis XIV and met Jean de La Fontaine, is the greatest figure of this period: he was a translator, lexicographer and fabulist. His Persian-inspired philosophical tales are part of the letters of nobility of national literature. From 1801 (the date of Georgia's annexation by Russia), Russia represented a bridge to the European cultural movements that took root in Georgia (Enlightenment, Romanticism). At the end of the 19th century a literature inspired by the sense of national identity developed by the literary elite of Kutaisi and Tbilisi. The great names of this period are Nikoloz Baratashvili (1817-1844), Akaki Tsereteli (1840-1915) and Ilya Chavchavadze (1837-1907).
The 20th century
The beginning of the 20th century saw the emergence of avant-garde movements, inspired by the literary life of Paris. The year 1915 is considered to be the date of birth of the Georgian Symbolist movement, which published, from 1916 onwards, the magazine Les Cornes Bleues. The group, whose members included Paolo Iashvili, Titsian Tabidze, Guiorgui Leonidze and Valerien Gaprindachvili, continued its activities until 1932, when it was banned. The great novelist of that time was Mikhail Djavakhishvili.
If the beginning of the Soviet era favoured avant-garde movements such as Futurism, the Stalinist period would be that of socialist realism. Only propaganda literature without authors was allowed, and the country's literary elite was decimated during the great purges. After de-Stalinization, dissident literature will be the vehicle of nationalism, embodied by Konstantine Gamsakhourdia
Nodar Doumbadze, Guram Dochanashvili and Otar Tchiladze are the other great novelists of the 1960s and 1980s, images of a literature of the "thaw", more free and individual, dealing with Georgian reality with humour, sometimes with folkloristic and good-natured accents.
After the Soviet Union
The period following the break-up of the Soviet Union, marked by the chaos in which the country is plunged, will not be very conducive to literature. Nevertheless, new names appear on the literary scene. Among them are Datho Barbakadze and David Tchikladze, whose writing reflects a new mentality, a new vision of the world and the upheavals that shake it. The writer Aka Mortchiladze (Journey to Karabagh)
and the playwright Lacha Boughadze are the most popular names of this new generation, who tackle difficult themes of contemporary Georgian society with a sense of humour.Let us also take a look at some contemporary authors. Omar Tourmanaouli (1959-2019), writer and translator into Georgian-French, has given collections of poetry (The Mother of Days and Nights, 1984; Sins and Daisies, 1991; Que, 1994) and two novels (Abkhazia... Soldier's Notes, 1993; The Widow, the Swallow and the Seer, 1998). Let us now mention the screenwriter and writer Mikho Mosulishvili (born in 1962) known for his collections of short stories (The Moon Day Icons, 1990; The Stone of Mercy, 2011), his novels (The Knight at Any Time, 1999; The Flight Without a Barrel, 2001; The Great Bear, 2013) and also his plays (My Robin, 2012; Laudakia Caucasia or A Joyful Psychoanalytical Portrait of a Furious Century, 2013). Born in 1973, Zaza Burchuladze is an integral part of the new Georgian literary scene. Like Mikho Mosulishvili, he is a screenwriter, playwright and author. He has written five novels: Mineral Jazz Tbilisi (2003), Gospel by Donkey (2005), Adibas (2009) and The Inflatable Angel (2011). This anticipatory novel, which is based on the revelation of the soul of contemporary Georgia, was awarded the prize for best Georgian novel. Let's also talk about Paata Shamugia (born in 1983), editor at the weekly newspaper Liberali, also a poet. Her collections are The Extraterrestrial (1999), SOS (2000), Revolution (2005), Antikhaosani (2007), The Advantage (2010), Akhatistos
(2011). For this last collection, Paata Shamugia received the Saba Prize. Finally, let us mention some authors of Georgian origin living abroad. Kéthévane Davrichewy, born in 1965 in Paris, studied modern literature as well as theatre and cinema. In 1995, thanks to the memories of her grandparents, she wrote a collection of Georgian tales. Let us also think of Elena Botchorishvili, living in Canada and also a journalist, who invented a new literary genre: the shorthand novel (writing in very short sentences). Her novels include The Butterfly Drawer (1999), Opera (2002), My Father's Head (2011), Belle vie (2015)..
