უცხოობის განცდა – უმთავრესი ადამიანური გამოცდილება. ელიას ხურის „ქალაქის კარიბჭეები“

Abstract

The concepts of “a stranger", “an alien”, “an exile” are of great importance concerning one of the earlier small-format novels “City Gates”, by a modern Lebanese writer, novelist, literary critic Elias Khoury. The novel, written in 1981, is a postmodern literary rendition of one of the well-known themes of “One Thousand and One Nights”- "Cooper City". Although the author links this theme to his most poignant topic - the Beirut Civil War and its invocations, in this short novel the reader cannot see Beirut directly. There is no mention of war either. The main character of the novel is a stranger travelling to a distant city and his strength lies in his sense of alienation, because it is the sense of alienation that leads him to the divine truth, to his essence of worldview. Alienation is a torment to him and, at the same time, an expression of his prominence, a means of accessing the divine truth. His path is the path of God, the path leading to God; his life experience is simultaneously a form of ecstasy that transcends worldly and divine divisions between the soul and the matter. His world is a place of exile, where everything and everyone reminds him of his alienation and sets him free from being chained to the earthly orientation. The way back from this alienation is cut for him, his earthly ideas about identity are completely gone, for he no longer has the memories of his lost homeland. He does not seek to overcome the alienation and suffering, to end it, on the contrary, he continues its course tirelessly, alienation is deeply rooted in him, and after overcoming many obstacles that resemble apocalyptic scenes, he reaches his goal. After a countless day and a cold, rainy night he succeeds and fails, at the same time, to reach the city- the city, where he thought he was expected, first was consumed by fire, then the sea swallowed fire, and covered the city, and the place plunged into the water and disappeared. Thus, beauty and truth remained unobtainable to the man trying to gain it. This means that the man was in search of something that does not exist in this world, something that is only otherworldly. The distressing prospect of salvation for him lies precisely in this alienation and motion - the travel to the promised land.