Anthologist-Preface: Shota Iatasvili
Translator: Sophia Siamanidou
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Diana Anfimiadi, Zaza Koshkadze, Paata Shamugia, Dato Kanchashvili, Giorgi Kekelidze, Zura Jishkariani, Gio Lomidze, Alex Chighvinadze, Lia Likokeli, Beka Akhalaia, Salome Benidze, Nika Lashkhia, Erekle Deisadze, Tornike Chelidze, Giorgi Shonia, Giorgi Arabuli, Giorgi Chutlashvili, Nini Eliashvili, Aleksandre Lortkiphanidze.
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The outline of a new poetry blooming through a small country’s diversity
This anthology features poets aged less than 40 years, which is to say 21st-century poets, namely poets who appeared in Georgian poetry over the course of the past twenty years. In order to better emphasize the characteristics of this generation, maybe we should look back a little into the past, considering the fact that the last major turn in Georgian poetry took place in the ‘90s.
This turn was the culmination of many factors: the collapse of the Soviet Union and the achievement of national independence in Georgia after the national conflicts, the civil war from 1991 to 1992, the loss of territory due to Russian occupation (Abkhazia in 1993, Shida Kartli – generally known as South Ossetia – in 2008), as well as the deep sociopolitical crisis. It comes as no surprise that in such conditions, the new poetry that emerged took a radically different shape than the one it had during the Soviet era, and also carried a completely different sociopolitical weight. At the same time, the abolition of censorship brought to the forefront subjects that were previously treated as taboo, while from a morphological point of view, this new poetry turned its eye to the avant-garde, i.e. the early 20th-century vanguard of Georgian poets. All this, in a very complicated way, led to the poetic phenomenon of the ‘90s: a line-up of poets with individual style, language and experimentation, who were at the same distinguished for their high technique: Dato Barbkadze, David Chickhladze, Andro Buachidze, Zaza Tvaradze, Ela Gochiashvili, Karlo Kacharava, Zurab Rtveliashvili, Zviad Ratiani, Giorgi Lobzhanidze and others besides, including the editor of this anthology and author of this preface.
These poets were succeeded by the generation represented in this anthology. In essence, 21st-century Georgian poets were influenced by the ‘90s style, which they studied, used, refined and further advanced, and inevitably tried to differentiate themselves from this style, as much as they could.
However, it is noteworthy that they continued to use the institutions of literary coexistence revived by ‘90s poets after the soviet bans were lifted, i.e. poetry prizes and literary coalitions. This anthology features poets who were members of two such coalitions, namely Pink Bus (Alex Chighvinadze, Zaza Koshkadze, Dato Kanchashvili, Aleksandre Lortkipanidze) and Laboratory (Paata Shamugia, Zura Jishkariani). Both poetry groups have disbanded, yet they had greatly influenced the poetic comings and goings of their time.
Why the Pink Bus, you might ask? The truth is that the so-called “Rose Revolution” transpired in Georgia in 2003 and this Tbilisi-based group was created during the same period. Its name is a consequence and echo of the revolutionary mood that was prevalent at the time. They would highjack buses and justify it as poetic expropriation, set up poetic performances on city streets, blocked the highways and made room for the Pink Bus to cross through, recited poems in city buses, and actively took part in demonstrations and shows. They were a popular five-person group. Their fifth member, Shota Digmelashvili, has not been included in this anthology, because once the group disbanded, he chose to abandon literature for a career in journalism and left-wing politics. The joint poetry collection “Pink Bus” was released in 2007.
Alex Chighvinadze was considered to be the ideologist of the group. He is the most affective, and this affectivity is mixed with a predetermined rage.
Aleksandre Lordkipanidze trusts his own inner rhythm, the dynamics of language and follows the words until his subject is exhausted, until all energy is drained…
The free verse of Dato Kanchashvili is an example of true sophistication, evenness and resolution. His poetry shows that it is possible to come up with a personal style when scrutinizing the structure of free verse, which he afterwards never lets go.
Zaza Koshkadze is the most passionate and most ardent, although his fervor is sometimes bold and very piquant. As Ryan Van Winkle said in the preface to his book, he is “a jerk like Bukowski, a romantic like Cohen and thorny like Nick Cave”.
The five-member “Laboratory” was a different ensemble altogether, not a purely poetic association, but more of a multicultural crew. This is why Misha Bakhsoliani ended up becoming one of the most radical writers of his generation, Zura Jishkariani became a musician – first with the electropop band Kung Fu Junkie and afterwards with the Hip-Hop duet Kayakata – while Paata Shamugia remained focused on poetry.
Zura Jishkariani is featured in this anthology because despite his popularity as musician, he remains a distinguished writer of his generation, thanks to his poems, short-stories, blog posts, and also his novel “The Chewing Dawns Sugar Free”. One can also claim that the new language is noticeable is his text: it is the language of cyberpunks, chatbots and algorithms, which he uses and develops in all the above writing genres. He is, at the same time, a refugee from Abkhazia, and his texts always reflect the life in the ghettos, the sadness and pain of those who are oppressed, poor and ill-fated.
Paata Shamugia, who is also a refugee from Abkhazia, stood out almost immediately because of his trademark irony and sarcasm. His poems are an investigation and revelation of sociopolitical injustices and perversions. Shamugia became acclaimed not only because he addressed these things through his poetry, but also because he tried to express these concerns with all other means possible – mass media, rallies, etc. Thanks to his efforts, he currently holds the office of president of the Georgian PEN center, while his quality as poet is further evident from the fact that he is the only author ever to be nominee and twice laureate of the Saba prize, the most famous literary prize in Georgia. His poetry constitutes a strong social message, a slogan and a motto. It is a very fine example of work with intertextuality, a very strange fruit born from the union of poetic and mathematical logic. Shamugia manipulates old lyrical details to create a new lyrical precedent: a replica, a narrative of values in the tragicomical theater of war…
If we are to cite the most radical figures in the art scene of Georgia, we should also mention Erekle Deisadze, who, like Zura Jishkariani, is more famous as a musician, even though poetry and prose played no small role in his career as an artist. He rose to prominence with his scandalous novel “Secret Fuck-Up”, and focused on music after following this novel with the equally scandalous song “What Daddy Wants”. His poetry, much like the poetry of Paata Shamugia, is full of social acrimony, albeit in a radically different form. In contrast to Shamugia, who uses free verse, Deisadze mainly employs wordplay, which cannot really be translated; consequently, he chose to be represented in this anthology through the more “harmless” Haiku cycle. I would like, at this point, to mention that Erekle Deisadze comes from Kutaisi, the second largest city in Georgia, located at the region of Imereti. We could say that Kutaisi is the alternative cultural center of Georgia and remains so to this day. To give an example, in early 20th century, the Georgian vanguard – the group of Georgian symbolist poets named “Blue Horns” – originated from Kutaisi. Vladimir Mayakovsky, the famous Russian poet, grew up with them in the same city.
Giorgi Kekelidze is one of the most successful poets of his generation, although contrary to the radicalism of Jishkariani, Shamugia and Deisadze, the secret of his success lies in his balance and realism. At the age of 28 years, he was appointed General Director of the National Parliamentary Library of Georgia. Despite the fact that the regime changed shortly afterwards his appointment, he managed to remain in this office with dignity. As a result, his books quickly became very popular, particularly the “Gurian Diaries”, which were published in three parts and describe Guria, the place where he grew, with the peculiar humor that is one of the region’s typical qualities. Nevertheless, his entire career began with poetry, and Giorgi has yet to quit writing and experimenting with verse. Consequently, his latest poetry collection is divided into three parts: 1) Biblical misconceptions and folkloric investigations, 2) Provision of different forms of idioms and proverbs, and 3) SMS-poetry, micropatterns of metaphorical thinking.
The anthology starts with poems by a writer of Greek descent; this is on the one hand symbolic, and on the other hand, completely by chance: her name came up at the top only because of alphabetical order. Diana Anfimiadi is a linguist by profession and this is evident from her verses, which are constantly marked by linguistic research and phonetic games. The main themes of her poetry are language, nature and its destiny, and the relationship between people and language. This tendency is particularly prominent in her more recent poetic endeavors. Another aspect that must be emphasized is Anfimiadi’s constant yearning for the ancient Greek world. She has a whole series of her own interpretations of ancient Greek myths, which is further proven by a summarized list of her poem titles: “New Odyssey”, “Antigone”, “Ariadne”, “Ganymede”, “Clytemnestra”, “Medea”, “The Other Medea”, “Medusa – Gorgon” and so on.
If we are to turn to female poets, we should first of all state that they are fewer than the men in this anthology. However, if a similar compilation was created two or three years ago, things would have been very different. The problem is, the exceptional women poets of the new millennium, who are eminent figures of contemporary Georgian poetry, just crossed 40 years of age: Lela Samniashvili, Eka Kevanishvili, Tea Topuria, Kato Javakhishvili, and others. What can we do? Strange things like that sometimes happen, especially in poetry.
Lia Likoleli is the most vivid figure among the female poets of this anthology. She comes from Khevsureti, the high mountainous region of Georgia, which is a very special poetic corner of this country and famous for its bards. Khevsureti features its own dialect and word forms, and it is known for its poetics of mourning, which are expressed in the region’s dirges and their mournful timbre. All these aspects played a major role in how Likoleli shaped her poetry. The world of fairytales, myths, proverbs and folklore is paramount in her verses. Her long poems are usually narrative and the stories they narrate are frequently linked with this world. In this context, gender awareness, already apparent in Likoleli’s case, becomes more intense.
Giorgi Arabuli also comes from Khevsureti, and, like Likoleli, he is also greatly influenced by his homeland. His most recent poetry collection is titled “Gvrini”, the typical form of a verse-song performed during the harvest; in fact, it is used in many types of verses. In this anthology, Arabuli present a cycle of different sorrows – sorrow for life, sorrow for death, sorrow for attitude, sorrow for old age, sorrow for poets, etc. These poems are performing a ritual, they read like a defense of death – this is what popular tradition prescribes, and the poet not only achieves in discovering the popular language of folk poetry of Khevsureti, he also manages to make it even more sophisticated.
We have so far showcased various places of origin in Georgia: Abkhazia (Jishkariani, Shamugia), Imereti (Deisadze), Guria (Kekelidze) and Khevsureti (Likoleli, Arabuli). Now, we ought to turn to another corner of Western Georgia, Samegrelo, a region known not for a dialect, but for an entirely different language. Generally speaking, other than the diversity of dialects, what is particularly notable is that other than Georgian, this small country features three more languages based on Kartvelian: Mingrelian, Svan, and Laz. This linguistic diversity also defines the diversity of characters, which is reflected in Georgian poetry. This anthology features three poets from Samegrelo: Beka Akhalaia, Giorgi Shonia and Nika Lashkhia.
The aspect of the native land is pronounced in the verses of Beka Akhalaia, who shows no reservations in introducing elements from the life and language of his native region. He employs both free verse and other more conventional forms – with equal success – and it could be said that as far as poetic formality is concerned, Akhalaia is one of the more well-versed poets of his generation.
Nika Lashkhia is a minimalist poet; he always manages to express himself in a very succinct manner and remains true to small forms. He loves composing haikus.
The poetry of Giorgi Shonia continues the poetic tradition of the ‘90s and follows the path of Paata Shamugia; in other words, his verses are also marked by sociopolitical tension. One aspect that makes him stand out is the fact that after the typical poetic mystifications of the ‘90s, his poetic mystification was proven to be both original and highly successful. Shonia composed poetry under the name of the American poet Hans Promwell, with whom he published the joint poetry collection “Fabrication”. Only then did he “open the case”.
Salome Benidze comes from Kutaishi, like Erekle Deisadze. Her poems are often illustrations of specific impressions, journeys and memories. Her poetry collection “An Explanatory Note” collects photo stories, photo portraits, photo moods, photo memories, photo revelations, photo names, photo cities and photo persons. Bendize is also the author of the novel “The City on the Water” and works extensively in the field of literary translation.
Besides Tbilisi, the “Heart of Georgia” is Kartli, therefore it would be impossible not to present poets from that region. The verses of Gio Lomidze are stream-of-consciousness, full of impressive characters and metaphors, which are often quite vague.
Nini Eliashvili is the youngest from this new generation of poets. What makes her special is that the form of her verses are mainly conventional, compared to the majority of poets featured in this anthology, who mostly use free verse.
Giorgi Chutlashvili also uses free verse and prefers to keep his phrases clean from everything unnecessary. Instead, he builds the structure of his poems using short poetic utterances. He also shows a preference for accurate illustrations, although he develops such schemes with maximum emotional capacity.
With respect to the poems of Tornike Chelidze, he himself provides the most apt description: “Like waking up from a morning dream… from which you remember something: the aroma, the words, or the scenes”.
In short, these are the poets featured in this anthology. I hope that through their works enabled me to highlight the trends in contemporary Georgian poetry, and also to kill two birds with one stone, by demonstrating, after a fashion, the diversity prevalent in this small country ever since its conception, which is one of the most defining factors for its creative capacity.
Shota Iatashvili