Novel
Kvachi
კვაჭი კვაჭანტირაძე
Mikheil Javakhishvili · 1924
Synopsis
Kvachi Kvachantiradze is born on a stormy day, and his first words are “me, me, me”. Grown into a young man of irresistible charm and no scruples, he first lives off women, then sets up more elaborate swindles, surrounds himself with a gang and strips poor widows and rich men alike. Georgia seems too small to him: he makes his way to Russia, where war and revolution open boundless prospects to his daring, and he ends up getting close to Rasputin.
Context
The book, at first a series of sketches, was recast as a novel in 1924 and published the following year. Because it celebrated pre-war France and condemned the Russian Revolution and the Soviet invasion of Georgia, a heavily censored version was issued in 1934, and it is this version that reissues have followed to the present day. After the author was shot, his books were banned for nearly twenty years, until his rehabilitation. Donald Rayfield's English translation, made from the 1925 text, appeared in 2015; the complete French translation is by Maïa Varsimashvili-Raphael.
Who it is for
A long and funny novel, picaresque in construction; the Russian episodes are better understood when one knows Georgia before the revolution.
Prizes and reception
The best known of the Georgian picaresque novels, and one of the country's twentieth-century classics.