ვაჟა-ფშაველას უცნობი პუბლიკაციები. Vazha-Pshavela’s unknown publications

Abstract

Vajra’s rich literary heritage is not fully known to the reader. Some of his letters and works are with hitherto unknown pseudonyms. Collaborators of the well-known Georgian newspaper “Iveria”, as it usually happened at that time, often published their writings with pseudonyms and initials. Vazha, as an active collaborator of “Iveria”, had his pseudonyms too: “Paraskeva”, “V-a p-la”, “Ikauri”, “Zhulika Gogochuri”, etc. The cognoscente of Georgian periodical press of the second half of the 19-th century would have noticed one common, interesting publicist manner - the polemic of a pseudonymous author with a fictional person. It is thought that the articles published under the rubric “Letter to a Friend”, which are dedicated to one addressee “Brother Ekvtime” and represent a logical continuation of each other, belong to Vazha-Pshavela. 14 Interesting publicist letters? This is a polemic between two friends - Mamuka, the childhood friend of Ekvtime, who had been in Russia for a long time, from time to time apprises him about the good or bad events of the life of the homeland. In these articles there is reviewed the anguish of Georgia and seeking the ways out of the current difficult situations. It is noteworthy that when solving the problems narrated in these letters and discussing social or national issues, Vazha is presented as a typical member of “sixties”. It is also interesting to note that the total number of Vazha’s letters known up to this date, published in 1880-93, does not exceed the number of articles reviewed here. Obviously, the significance of this material is special for further study of the publicist heritage of the great Georgian writer. There are also Vazha-Pshavela’s other unknown Tianetian publications. They are published under various pseudonyms. Among them, before the October Revolution many letters were published in magazines and newspapers under the pseudonym “Well-wisher” . In 1890 an extensive correspondence was published in the newspaper “Iveria” under the pseudonym “Temporary Tianetian” with the title “Voice from the province”. This letter is humorous and refers to the social blameworthiness or wrongness in Tianeti. This letter was followed by a disarrangement among the intelligentsia of the district, although the author could not be identified. Who could it have been? Who had taken it to heart in the 90s of the 19th century, who could write with such highly artistic humor. After returning from St. Petersburg, Vazha settled in the village of Chargali, in his maternal home. He often visited the center of the region - Tianeti. By an unusual cycle of his feuilletons and correspondence he provided the public with the news of that place. It is thought that the above mentioned letter should also be considered as part of this cycle. This is evidenced by the manner of writing characterizing only Vazha and the coincidence of thoughts with other letters, the style, the phraseology characterizing of the writer, the specifics of the opening a question, the ways of finding the causes of shortcomings and getting rid of them, etc. After a long research it was found that some of the above-mentioned and some other letters, brilliant samples of unknown publications, which we have not reviewed here (“Heroes of Ildakni “, “Tianeti Mazra”, “ Situation of Tianeti “, etc.), are part of Vazha-Pshavela’s literary heritage. How reliable these versions are, will be shown in the future, because Vazha-Pshavela’s problematics, style, language and pathos perceived as contemporary also in other epochal locations of time, as a Georgian classical heritage.