Poetry
ოსური მოთხრობა
Not translated into English
Giorgi Eristavi · 1832
Synopsis
In the seventeenth century, while the Georgian and Ossetian highlanders stand up to the armies of Shah Abbas, Zare and Qanimat love each other across what separates them. The war and their own people oppose it, and theirs is a love that nothing favours. The story is that of unhappy lovers, caught in a struggle that goes beyond their two families.
Context
The text, its author's first published poem, appeared in 1832, the very year the conspiracy failed. It was recast and republished in 1853 under the names of its two heroes, Zaré and Qanimat, so that the same work circulates under two titles. The material comes from the mountain people's wars against the Persian armies of the seventeenth century; the form owes to the Polish romanticism that the author discovered in exile. There is no French or English translation.
Who it is for
A short narrative poem, in Georgian, with no translation; it helps to know that the two versions of the text circulate under different titles.
Prizes and reception
The first published text of the man regarded as the founder of modern Georgian theatre.