ზურაბ ქარუმიძის რომანი „დაგნი, ანუ სიყვარულის აღაპი“ პოსტმოდერნიზმის ესთეტიკის ჭრილში

Abstract

Zurab Karumidze’s novel “Dagny or a Love Feast” is about the tragedy of the XIX century’s Norwegian famous poet and playwright woman, who went far from her homeland, and came to Georgia, the decision that finally led to her death. The queen of Berlin bohemia and the muse of many famous creators (including Edward Munch, August Strundberg, Gustav Vigeland, Knut Hamsun, etc.), Dagny was murdered by her friend Vladislav Emerik when she was sleeping in the room of the “Grand Hotel” in Old Tbilisi. Zurab Karumidze tells us about details from Dagny Juel’s biography, how she arrived in Georgia. Moreover, he tries to show the actual reason that motivated her to come to Tbilisi, this mysterious city. Interestingly, the author introduces a second story plan too, where he simultaneously describes the historical, cultural, literary past of Georgia. With the mixture of themes, the writer shows that the events reflected in the text are influenced by cosmic forces in order to perform an occult ritual (religious-creative ritual - “a Love Feast”). The author presents real facts, famous figures and a set of characteristics of Tbilisians, which he unites in a fictional artistic world. Everything in the novel is interpreted according to the writer’s imagination, the real and the fiction facts merge, through which the completely independent stories form a single chain. Moreover, the narration is accompanied by the writer’s comments and remarks, which clearly reveal his attitude towards the described stories. We think that Zurab Karumidze has interestingly connected the history of Dagny Juel with the past and present of the country, which has deep political, religious, mystical, mythological, and cultural roots at the crossroads of West and East. According to the author that is the reason why this place is chosen from the supernatural forces, it is the homeland of the creators, where the “Holy Grail Tile - the Sacred Tile with the Secret Code of the Golden Fleece” was hidden, which is kept in the poem “The Man in The Panther Skin” today.