kartvelologi

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The Kartvelologist

The Kartvelologist” is a bilingual (Georgian and English) peer-reviewed, academic journal, covering all spheres of Kartvelological scholarship. Along with introducing scholarly novelties in Georgian Studies, it aims at popularization of essays of Georgian researchers on the international level and diffusion of foreign Kartvelological scholarship in Georgian scholarly circles.

“The Kartvelologist” issues both in printed and electronic form. In 1993-2009 it came out only in printed form (#1-15). The publisher is the “Centre for Kartvelian Studies” (TSU), financially supported by the “Fund of the Kartvelological School”. In 2011-2013 the journal is financed by Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation.

Marjory Wardrop and Guria

marjori

One of the most famous English women in the Republic of Georgia is Marjory Wardrop (1869-1909), who translated the Georgian national epic poem, “The man in the panther’s skin” into English. This article describes her visit to the region of Guria, in the West of Georgia, in 1895. Marjory Wardrop visited Georgia only twice in her life. Her first visit was in 1894-5. She travelled with her mother from England, by train and boat, arriving at Batumi in December 1894. Her brother Oliver was already in Georgia. This is how Marjory described her arrival: “One morning, about the middle of December 1894, after a voyage of thirteen days from Marseilles, I awoke to find our steamer lying outside the port of Batum. The day had just dawned, and the town was veiled in a chilling mist, but from time to time a glimpse might be caught of the high mountains beyond. It was my first glimpse of the land which I had so often pictured to myself, in visions of night as well as in my waking dreams. Since first my interest had been aroused in the Ancient Kingdom of Georgia, in its beautiful scenery, in its brave and handsome inhabitants, in its rich literature and, above all, in its sad yet glorious history, I had longed for the day when I should myself visit those places of which I had read and thought, when I should perhaps meet those poets in whose works I had found so much delight”

keywords:Marjory Wardrop, Nino Gurieli, Ozurgeti Category: CHRONICLE OF EVENTS Authors: Anthony Stobart

On publishing Twenty-Five Years in the Caucasus, 1842-1867, by Arnold L. Zisserman

201 The English-language reader interested in life and events in the Caucasus and Georgia during the Russian-Muslim wars of the 1820s-1860s will find that comprehensive resources are relatively few. John Baddeley, Moshe Gammer and the collaborative trio of Thomas Sanders, Ernest Tucker and Gary Hamburg (see bibliography) have provided substantive accounts of military operations, with the above-named trio also providing valuable excerpts from the Muslim-viewpoint account of Muhammad Tahir al-Qarakhi. A few senior officers, notably General Tornau and the commanders-in-chief Vorontsov and Bariatinski, wrote memoirs which addressed the conflict, while Tolstoy’s The Cossacks and Hadji Murad skillfully present the war environment, participants and scenes of action. Finally, Lesley Blanch provides a far-ranging account of Shamil and the war in her book, The Sabres of Paradise. However, what are noticeably lacking are any English translations of long-span memoirs by civilians and military men who lived through the war years. Thus, it is hoped that publication in English of Arnold L. Zisserman’s Russian-language Twenty-Five Years in the Caucasus, 1842-1867 will prove to be a positive step in improving the situation.

keywords:Zisserman, Twenty-Five Years in the Caucasus Category: CHRONICLE OF EVENTS Authors: PETER SCINNER

On the Monograph “Medieval Georgian Romance The Man in a Panther-Skin and Shakespeare’s Late Plays” by Elguja Khintibidze

Monograph Professor Elguja Khintibidze’s extraordinary studies establish, for the first time, a fascinating connection between English Elizabethan theatre and the great Georgian national 12^th century epic by Shota Rustaveli, The Knight in the Panther Skin. Based on the most rigorous textual analysis, he demonstrates, seemingly incontrovertibly, that remarkable similarities in theme, setting, plot, action and character – way beyond any mere coincidence of archetypes – show the clear influence of the Georgian epic upon both Shakespeare and Beaumont&Fletcher, particularly in Cymbeline, and Philaster and A King No King with the last actually set in Iberia, the classical name for Georgia.

keywords:monograph, Rustaveli, Shakespeare Category: CHRONICLE OF EVENTS Authors: Anthony Anderson

On the Monograph “Medieval Georgian Romance The Man in a Panther-Skin and Shakespeare’s Late Plays” by Elguja Khintibidze

Shota Rustaveli has been for the Georgians what the Bible and Shakespeare have been for English-speaking nations: a source of quotations, proverbs and role-models. Now Elguja Khintibidze shows Rustaveli’s influence on English literature as well. Readers will find a fascinating case study of literary influence: an accidental meeting at the court of the Persian king Abbas I between British diplomats and homesick Georgian ex-patriates introduced the British to Rustaveli’s poem. Additionally, Khintibidze provides us with analyses of plays by, e.g., Shakespeare and Beaumont & Fletcher that shed new light on Elizabethan tragicomedy. Highly recommended for English and Medieval scholars.

keywords:monograph, Rustaveli, Shakespeare Category: CHRONICLE OF EVENTS Authors: Bert Beynen

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

Professor Elguja Khintibidze’s new book: Medieval Georgian Romance: “The Man in the Panther Skin” and Shakespeare’s Late Plays has just been translated into English (November 2018).

It’s an amazing story and an extraordinary piece of research by the Professor who has spent the last 10 years or so working on it. His studies establish, for the first time, a fascinating connection between Elizabethan theatre and the great Georgian national 12^th century epic. Based on the most rigorous textual analysis, he shows how remarkable similarities in theme, setting, plot, action and character – way beyond any mere coincidence of archetypes – demonstrate the clear influence of the Georgian epic upon both Shakespeare and Beaumont & Fletcher, particularly in Cymbeline, A King and No King and Philaster.

The most intriguing question is: how did this happen? How could it have happened?

keywords:monograph, Rustaveli, Shakespeare Category: CHRONICLE OF EVENTS Authors: Anthony Anderson