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82 pages

English

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In the 26 years since Georgia declared independence from the Soviet Union, the country and its capital, Tbilisi, have endured unimaginable hardships: one coup d'etat, two wars with Russia, the cancer of organised crime, and prolonged periods of brutalising, economic depression. Now, as the city begins to flourish again drawing hordes of tourists with its eclectic architecture and famous, welcoming spirit it's difficult to reconcile the recent past with this glamorous and exotic present. With wit, warmth, heartbreaking realism, and a distinctly Georgian sense of neighbourliness, these ten stories do just that. Published with the support of the Georgian National Book Center and the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia.

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Short story

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Publié par	Comma Press
Date de parution	14 décembre 2017
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781910974490
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0250€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Praise for The Book of Tbilisi

‘If you’re fortunate enough to visit Georgia, you’ll be struck by its beauty and raw grandeur, the churches and wine cellars and icon stores, the open generosity of those you encounter, the language and the unique shapes of its alphabet. If you’re paying attention, you’ll be aware of what Tbilisi has endured, and of its rich literary tradition in poetry and fiction which is now being embraced by a new generation. This anthology acts as an introduction to a literature quite neglected by the Anglophone world. In these works we find the self-effacing wit of the survivor, hard-bitten but never cynical. Or, if jaded (and with good reason) underpinned by a deep and humbling spirituality. There is a range of voice and style here, but the language consistently has the direct, clean and unadorned quality of great fiction, which suits the subtlety and complexity of the lives examined, the nuance and the subtext of the past’s pervasive presence. We feel the hopes and the fears of the narrators and protagonists, the State’s broken contracts and prevarications. Ultimately these are stories of the resilience of the human soul.’
– Luke Kennard, author of The Transition

‘Far from the glamorous buzz of touristic Tbilisi, these heartbreakingly realistic stories tell of ordinary lives turned upside down. From social neglect to social media absurdity, we meet the victims and the survivors – but where all seems lost, small acts of human kindness offer hope. Like a decent Georgian table wine these stories linger in the mind, earthy and rather raw and intensely felt.’
– Anthea Nicholson, author of The Banner of Passing Clouds

‘A soaring, searing collection – important new stories that are sure to live long in the memory.’
– Eley Williams, author of Attrib
First published in Great Britain in 2017 by Comma Press
commapress.co.uk

Copyright © remains with the authors, translators
This collection copyright © Comma Press, 2017.

All rights reserved.

‘Patagonia’ was first published in Georgian in Tasmanian Tiger (2013). ‘Uncle Evgeni’s Game’ was first published in Arili (2014). ‘Precision’ was first published in Open the Door (2013). ‘On Facebook’ was first published in On Facebook (2014). ‘Balba-Tso’ was first published in Literaturili Gazeti (2012). ‘Tsa’ was first published in Arili (2014). ‘A Bronx Tale a la Gold Quarter’ was first published in Literaturili Palitra (2014). ‘Dad After Mum’ was first published in Literaturuli Gazeti (2014).
‘Peridé’ was first published in Literaturili Gazeti (2017).

The moral rights of the contributors to be identified as the authors of this Work have been asserted in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.

The stories in this anthology are entirely works of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in them are entirely the work of the authors’ imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, organisations or localities, is entirely coincidental. Any characters that appear, or claim to be based on real ones are intended to be entirely fictional. The opinions of the authors and the editors are not those of the publisher.

A CIP catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 1910974315
ISBN-13: 9781910974315

This book is published with the support of the Georgian National Book Center and the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia.

The publisher gratefully acknowledges assistance from Arts Council England.
Contents
Introduction
Gvantsa Jobava

Uncle Evgeni’s Game
Dato Kardava
Translated by Nino Kiguradze

On Facebook
Gela Chkvanava
Translated by Tamar Japaridze

Precision
Erekle Deisadze
Translated bu Philip Price

Peridé
Zviad Kvaratskhelia
Translated by Mary Childs

Tsa
Iva Pezuashvili
Translated by Mary Childs

Flood
Shota Iatashvili
Translated by George Siharulidze

Dad after Mum
Rusudan Rukhadze
Translated by Tamar Japaridze

A Bronx Tale a la Gold Quarter
Lado Kilasonia
Translated by Maya Kiasashvili

Balba-Tso
Ina Archuashvili
Translated by Philip Price

Patagonia
Bacho Kvirtia
Translated by Nino Kiguradze

About the Authors
About the Translators
Introduction
What can the 31-year-old co-editor of this book, born during the last decade of the Soviet rule, in a republic struggling towards freedom, tell you about the wider history of her native, capital city? Quite a lot, as it happens! For the identity of Tbilisi is a heady mix of myth, historical conflict, and geological fortuity that even its younger citizens can appreciate. To begin with, Tbilisi’s worst-kept secret is its ability to forever rise from the ashes, to recover and reconstruct itself, to recapture its former glories, even when, through conquest and external rule, all seems lost. It’s one of the reasons residents readily believe any number of myths and legends about the place. One of these miraculous stories tells how the city was originally founded:
Back at the start of the Middle Ages, the territory we now call Tbilisi was covered with dense woodland. According to the legend, King Vakhtang I Gorgasali of Georgia, ruling in the second half of the 5th century, went hunting with his men in the forests here. During the hunt the king wounded a roe deer with an arrow. The animal limped away into the dense thicket, and the king’s men ran after it, following the drops of blood it left behind. This trail led the men to a boiling hot spring. There, they witnessed how the water bubbling out of the ground healed the wounded doe, as if it contained some magical properties, and the doe, now recovered, disappeared into the forest again. The men related this miracle to their king and showed him the spot where it had happened. So impressed was he with this tale, and with the hot sulphuric springs, that the king ordered his new capital city to be built in that very spot.
Georgia, the country that Tbilisi now stands as the capital of, sits in the heart of the Caucasus mountain range, right on the border of the Orient and the Occident, at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. The country’s favourable geopolitical location was the main reason for our ancestors’ obstreperous and worrisome existence; the long, dramatic history of Tbilisi, its many conquests and resurrections, was largely a consequence of the country’s strategic, geographic importance. For many centuries the city has been the object of rivalry between various invaders, from the Persians to the Byzantines, from the Khazars to the Arabs, from the Seljuk Turks to the Mongols and the Ottomans. On top of all this, Tbilisi managed to survive 70 years of Soviet rule, and only saw its independence regained 26 years ago. So don’t be surprised, when visiting the city, to meet a younger generation that is defined by its sense of spiritual freedom, its democratic frame of mind, its sensitivity to issues such as gender equality, or religious tolerance; don’t be surprised to find a generation actively engaged in the struggles against homophobia and xenophobia; because this is a generation born out of new-found freedoms – freedoms we don’t take for granted. But this spirit of tolerance is perhaps a longer standing Tbilisi tradition, not unique to the current younger generation. Historically Tbilisi has always been a diverse, multicultural city; visitors should not be surprised to come across a Mosque, a Synagogue, an Armenian Gregorian Church or a Catholic Church while strolling through the old parts of city, even though Tbilisi is the capital of an Orthodox Christian country. One of the most famous medieval kings of Georgia, David the Builder, ruling in the 12th century, tried to rebuild Tbilisi (having been recently destroyed by Turks) as the capital city of the whole of ‘Transcaucasia’, a capital for all the ethnicities living in the region.
Evidence of this multicultural past can be seen in Tbilisi’s highly eclectic architecture, although perhaps the most popular aspects of the Old Town, for many tourists, is the charming, closely-packed two- or three-storey residential houses built in the 19th century. Here, elements of classical and local architecture are interwoven seamlessly, in the houses’ façades, adorned as they are with elaborate, wooden balconies. Walking through the entrance halls of these buildings, and into courtyards that from the street you would never have imagined, is a revelation. This is what one of the outstanding modern Georgian writers, Aka Morchiladze, writes about it:

Tbilisi is a city of streets full of wonders and puzzles: you can go through a dark, cool arch and find yourself in an incredible yard. The arch itself might have the look of a Stalinist era monument, but beyond it you might find yourself in a courtyard dappled with acacia trees, built by some Swiss architect in a pseudo-classical style a century and a half before. And beyond that might lie the ruins of a medieval brick church bell-tower, overlooked by a wooden balcony typical of Tbilisi’s old townhouses, or a pavilion with corbels made out of plaster Atlases, with an outdoor barbeque beside it. And what can you discover going through the creaking iron gates from that yard to the neighbouring one? Some new mystery and wonder!

Thus, it is often difficult for visitors in Tbilisi to work out where they are, stylistically – in Asia or Europe. The city, built on the hilly banks of the M’t’kvari (the River Kura), is overlooked by the ancient Narikala fortress, which has a mix of Persian, Umayyad, Mongolian and early renaissance heritage. Below lies a similar cocktail of contrasting ingredients: the symmetric, oriental domes of the bathhouses; the ancient Legvtakhevi waterfall sunk into the middle of a bustling, modern city centre; bridges, both old and modern, crisscrossing the river. Restaurants entertain their guests with folk songs and traditional Georgian dance, in between Europe