Poetry
ლექსები
Not translated into English
Mukhran Machavariani · 1955
Synopsis
A short book in which the twenty-six-year-old poet moves from a man's grief to what his country inspires in him. Love of country comes through things seen and named rather than through the slogans of the time, and the verse is spoken, direct, close to ordinary speech: it is this freedom of tone that made a new voice heard in post-war Georgian poetry.
Context
The volume appeared three years after its author's first verses, given to a student publication. It opens a rapid sequence: two collections in 1958, one of which was put into Russian by Yevgeny Yevtushenko, then books in 1965, 1970, 1971 and 1974, and a single volume in 1979. The boldness of the writing won the poet, from this very publication, adversaries in the literary world.
Who it is for
A short first book, with no French edition. You should know that its author was twenty-six and that nothing of his had yet appeared in volume form.
Prizes and reception
The poet's collections, this one at their head, have become bedside books for Georgian readers, and his name has remained one of the most popular in the country's poetry.