The Kartvelologist

Travels in Persia - 1627-1629

Thomas Herbert — 2020-08-30

What's So Funny? Laughter in Shota Rustaveli’s The Man in the Panther’s Skin and the Romances of Chrétien de Troyes

Sally Newell — 2020-08-30

In a conference paper on good and bad speech in The Man in the Panther's Skin and the romances of Chretien de Toyes, I included a
short segment on laughter, more for helpful suggestions from the audience than because I had insight into its occurrence in the literature. In the absence of any suggestions, I remained stymied for some time before finding sources that would lead to understanding. The purpose of this paper is to analyze episodes of laughter from the perspective of modern studies of the psychology of laughter and from the ethical views of Plato and Aristotle.

The Concept of Geopoetics and the Text-Space of the Man in the Panther’s Skin

Tamta Grigolia — 2020-08-30

Reflections on space as a category have been widely discussed in Western thought since the 1960s. This direction is often referred to as the “spatial turn (rotation)”, which incorporates many space-related considerations. Space is the main way in which the text is formed; it defines its contextual dimension, characters, metaphors and so on.

One of the modern concepts of exploring space in HumanitiesGeopoetics - explores the impact of culture and, above all, creative processes regarding the structuring of the human world. The idea and concept of Geopoetics belongs to the Scottish philosopher Kenneth White. According to White, Geopoetics starts when we allow something to happen. Geopolitics adresses real space. Its area of interest includes power relations between global cities and States. Geopoetics is a deeper and more radical initiative. To be more precise, Geopoetics is the "rewriting" of the real space. The text may include irreal space or
real space, but with barcodes that are not specific to that particular place and processed faces that are no longer identical to the real
ones. Therefore, the text can be considered as an alternative map of the world. One of the manifestations of Geopoetics is the cultural selfassertion of the territories, sometimes referred to as "Geopoiesis". This can be expressed by locating cities, capitals in the places desired by the author; thus the writer creates the so-called textual spaces, or rather space-texts.

I believe that analysing the space of The Man in the Panther’s Skin, in particular, exploring the significance of the spaces in different contexts and the role they play in terms of creating the whole plot of the poem will be significant not only for Rustvelology, but also for Georgian literary studies and will incorporate MPS more actively into the discourse of international literary studies in the modern world.

Genre Composition and Paradigmatic System of Georgian Hagiography

Nino Popiashvili — 2020-08-30

Georgian literature has developed a canturies-old tradition and was preceded by folklore, mythical thinking and worldview. By the
time the first Georgian literary works were created, the Georgian language was a well-established written language, which fully reflected artistic characters, literary archetypes and models.

The formation of the Georgian literary language is directly related to the development of Georgian literature. The fact that the monuments
of the ancient Georgian literature already reveal the structural properties of linguistic and literary norms indicates that the Georgian literary language was formed in ancient times.

The first texts of Georgian literature are complete literary works with specific structures, peculiarities of reflection, models and paradigms that respect and reflect the basic principles of the hagiographic genre. When studying the hagiographic model, it should also be noted that, in hagiography, both the models and the language of a writer are standardized and normed, as both the plot development and the language expression are fully established. The storyline of the piece of writing develops in it with specific formulations and linguistic clichés that have become stereotypes, and the leading character’s type is also outlined. The standardized language of hagiography reflects hagiographic models, although the language of artistic or poetic expression is completely individual and free, including the hagiographic works.

When discussing the model of Georgian hagiographic writing, two definitions were mainly utilized - “Martyrdom” or “Tsamebani” (Martyrdom) and “Life of Saints” or “Tskhovrebani” (Lives). It is also important to consider related ethnic, religious and gender issues. First of all, it should be noted that the leading characters of “Tskhovrebani” and “Tsamebani” are both ethnic Georgians and foreigners. For example, the Georgians are Hilarion the Georgian, Grigol of Khandzta, Ioane and Ekvtime Mtatsmindeli, Giorgi Mtatsmindeli and others. Among foreigners, Saint Nino, Eustathius of Mtskheta, the Thirteen Assyrian Fathers, Abo of Tiflis and others can be cited.

In the case of a gender-based grouping in the Georgian hagiography, both the “Tskhovrebani” (Lives) and “Tsamebani” (Martyrdom) genres describe the life and martyrdom of male and female saints and martyrs. At the same time, according to gender and ethnic groups, we can talk about both the “Tskhovrebani” (Lives) and “Tsamebani” (Martyrdom) as genres of Georgian hagiography.

In the martyrdom genre, we can discuss the ethnic origin of the hero, as well as the confessional issues, in particular, Christians from the very birth and other heroes recently converted to Christianity. Georgian hagiography can be grouped taking into account both genre and thematic paradigms, such as “Tskhovrebani” (Lives) and “Tsamebani” (Martyrdom), and according to ethnic, religious confessional and gender aspects. The genre and thematic composition of hagiographic works reflect both general, hagiographic and specific, national themes and motives. The observation regarding the Georgian hagiography reveals that standing at the beginning of the works of Georgian literature that have reached us, it reflects the peculiarities of the folklore and mythical worldview and the development and standardization of linguistic norms. On the other hand, Georgian hagiography depicts the relationships with Eastern or Byzantine early Christian literature, and general Christian and national models of the hagiographic paradigmatic system. Among them are the peculiarities of the reflection of the foreigners’ proselytism, which create a national peculiarity in the existing model of hagiography and are based on the socio-political situation.

Analysis of Two Lines from The Man in the Panther’s Skin by Shota Rustveli against the Background of Its English Translated Versions

Salome Sanikidze — 2020-08-30

Studying the text of The Man in the Panther’s Skin by Shota Rustveli means the interpretation of its content as adequately as possible. Alongside with the scholarly analysis to understand the essence of the text, its translated version represents the fact of interpretation that requires critical analysis. Translations of “The Man in the Panther’s Skin” are mainly based on those academic findings and data that Rustvelology had achieved and obtained by the time of their renderings in English.

According to the first Rustvelologist – Vakhtang VI, there had been many attempts of either “translating” or clarifying the poem, i. e. providing its ethical and philosophic interpretation. Respectively, before reviewing the poem concerning renderings, it is of high significance to determine the issues that Rustvelologists attempted to define and clarify through the researches conducted during centuries. The definition of adequacy of a rendering of the poem is possible, based on determining the significance or clarification of the Georgian text only.

The present article provides an analysis of a reflection of NeoPlatonism in the poem, based on one stanza. The teaching of NeoPlatonism about world unity meant the identity of God and the human being and acknowledgement of the absence of Evil as the substance, representing the main idea of the text to be analyzed.

The lines containing the above - referenced content are given under the Stanza #1492 (according to the edition by A. Baramidze, K. Kekelidze and A. Shanidze, Tb., 1957) as compared with all its translated English versions.

„ამ საქმესა დაფარულსა ბრძენი დივნოს გააცხადებს:
ღმერთი კარგსა მოავლინებს და ბოროტსა არ დაბადებს...“

English translations of the poem were made by M. Wardrop (1912), V. Urushadze (1968), R. Stevenson (1977), K. Vivian (1977) and L. Coffin (2015). K. Vivian offered the shortened rendering of the poem, under which the Stanza #1492 is omitted.

Reviewing of the stanza to be analyzed in the context of its English renderings aims at determining how the philosophic idea of Neo-Platonism was reflected in the translation. This is of high significance for defining the adequacy of renderings of the specific extract from the text.

The Path of The Man in a Panther-Skin to England and English Historical Sources

Elguja Khintibidze — 2020-08-30

This paper examines the information emerging in the English historical literature and primary sources concerning the origin of Shah Abbas’ Georgian Christian wives, which has not yet been discussed in Georgian historical writing. Specifically, English diplomat and traveller Sir Anthony Sherley, at the end of the 16th century, and Sir Thomas Herbert, an English attaché to Iran in the early 17th century, note in their books published in the 17th century that Abbas married the daughters of King Simon of Kartli and King Alexander of Kakheti.

English historical writings and sources indicate that the English diplomat Sir Anthony Sherley and his colleagues were assisted by the Christian wives of the Shah at the end of the 16th century. This statement reinforces the view that the story of the MPS known to a group of the early 17th-century English playwrights, and Shakespeare himself, became known through the cooperation of prominent ethnic Georgians, promoted at the Court of Abbas, with Sir Anthony Sherley.

Notes on the Council of Ferrara-Florence Preserved in Georgian Manuscripts

Nino Megeneishvili — 2020-08-30

It is a fact that the Council of Florence was the most important event not only for the Christian world but also for Georgia. It changed the world order and influenced Georgian reality and literary life. Manuscripts reflecting the above-mentioned Council of FerraraFlorence are preserved in Georgian National Center for Manuscripts. These manuscripts are of anti-Catholic polemical character and are dated by the XVIII century. First of all, we should mention the literary work “The Council of Florence” two copies of which are preserved: 1. A1443 and 2. Q-1391. As maintained by Besarion Orbelishvili, his work is a response to the decisions made by the Council. Thus Besarion does not describe the details of the Council, but the content. B.Orbelishvili’s “Grdemli” is an anti-Catholic polemical literary work and treaty. It is the political and social literary product of the XVIII century. “Mzametkveleba” by Anton, Catholicos of Georgia is the continuation of “Grdemli”. Here, chapter 3, passage 17 is about the response of Latins. Anton Catholics also starts and finishes anti-Catholic polemical part of “Mzametkveleba” with the overview of the Council of Florence.

The Urbnisi Cemetery

Ana Sakhvadze — 2020-08-30

During 1956-1963 a large cemetery (180 burial grounds) dated to the 1st – 3rd cc AD was excavated at Urbnisi (the municipality of Kareli). Only a fraction of discovered artifacts (glassware, glyptic arts) has been published to date. To this day the cemetery remains unstudied.

This paper presents part of the items discovered at the Urbnisi Cemetery which gives an overall picture of aesthetic requirements of contemporary society and its cultural, economic and trade relations with Middle Eastern countries, Parthia and Rome.

Medieval Georgian Romance "The Man in the Panther Skin” and Shakespeare’s Late Plays by Professor Elguja Khintibidze

Anthony Anderson — 2020-08-30

An Unknown Manuscript or Fraud?

The Kartvelologist — 2020-08-30

„ვარდთა და ნეხვთა ვინათგან მზე სწორად მოეფინების“

Elguja Khintibidze — 2020-08-30