GEORGIAN LITERATURE

body of writings in the Georgian language. Georgian literary history began with the area's conversion to Christianity in the 4th century and a need to invent an alphabet for the propagation of the Scriptures in the vernacular. The Gospels were translated in the 5th century into Georgian, and the Acts of the Apostles and Psalms were translated soon afterward, as were works of early Greek Fathers. Original Georgian literature began with biographies of saints, the first one being that of St. Shushanik (c. 480), and other early works include an account of the conversion of Georgia by the holy woman known as St. Nino in addition to stories about King Vakhtang I Gorgasal, a 5th-century hero. Georgian ecclesiastical literature was rooted in Byzantine Greek culture, and Georgian romances and epics blended the civilization of Persia with original elements of Caucasian folklore. Important prose romances were the Visramiani (Visramiani: The Story of the Loves of Vis and Ramin), adapted from an Iranian romance dating to Parthian times, and Amiran-Darejaniani, a cycle of fantastic tales. Secular poetry started with Ioann Shavteli and Chakhrukhadze, who wrote odes in honour of King David II (d. 1125) and Queen Tamara (d. 1213). The supreme achievement of Georgia's golden age was Shota Rustaveli's epic Vepkhis-tqaosani (The Knight in the Panther's Skin) on the themes of ideal comradeship, courtly love, and heroic endeavour. His poetic tradition, broken by Mongol invasions, was renewed in the 17th century by the Georgian royal poets Teimuraz I and Archil II. Belles lettres revived in Georgia during the 18th century with the lexicographer Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani, who wrote a book of fables, The Book of Wisdom and Lies. The main poets of the period were David Guramishvili and Bissarion Gabashvili. The Russian occupation of 1801 brought Georgia into the orbit of European intellectual life. Romantic poetry flourished with the work of Alexander Tchavtchavadze and the Byronic lyrics of the youthful bard Nicholas Baratashvili. Satirical comedy developed under the lead of Giorgi Eristavi, founder of the modern Georgian theatre. Exponents of the realistic novel were Lavrenti Ardaziani and Ilia Tchavtchavadze, the latter being Georgia's most distinguished man of letters of modern times, renowned as an essayist, publicist, and poet. The life of the Georgian mountaineers is brilliantly portrayed in the stories of Alexander Qazbegi and the ballads of Vazha Pshavela. Even more famous was the patriotic poet and man of letters Akaki Dsereteli (Tsereteli). Under the tsarist regime Georgian literature often assumed a propagandistic, moralistic tone. A number of leading writers, including the novelist Mikheil Javakhishvili and the poets Paolo Iashvili and Titsian Tabidze, perished in the Stalinist purge of 1937. However, poets of the stature of Ioseb Grishashvili and Ana Kalandadze, dramatists such as Shalva Dadiani, and novelists such as Konstantine Gamsakhurdia succeeded in maintaining a high standard of creative originality during the Soviet era.