SOVIET CENZORSHIF AND FICTIONAL PROSE BY GURAM GEGESHIDZE (ACCORDING TO THE NOVEL “VOICE OF OUTCRIER” AND THE STORY “EPOCH”)

Abstract

The tragic event of 1921 marked another painful page in the history of Georgia and many authors have described these episode of our country’s life. Ilia Chavchadze says that the function of a writer is to awake the nation in hard times. Many Georgian writers took upon themselves this mission during the Soviet regime. However, it was often the equivalent of death.

Guram Gegeshidze is a writer who worries about his country. His novel “Voice of the Outcryer” (1982) and story “epoch” (1984) describes several episodes of the historical processes in Georgia. After Stalin's death, from the 1950s to the 1980s, writers were no longer awaiting a death for criticizing the Soviet regime, but still were victims of harassment and arrest. For example, we can name the stories of Guram Dochanashvili and Chabua Amirejibi. Therefore, we think that in 1982and 1984, the publication of a novel and a story by Guram Gegeshidze loaded with anti-Soviet ideology, "Voice of the Outcryer" and “epoch”, required great courage on the part of the writer. Several important paradigms are noted in the works under consideration, including the concept of a father with a national spirit and his son, Kaplan and Nestor Vardanidze, which in our paper is considered to echo the epoch and is analyzed in the context of establishment of the Soviet Union.

Also noteworthy is the Undiladze clan, ideologically opposed to the Vardanidze clan, which the author portrayed as a symbol of betrayal and immorality. The murder of Jambakur Vardanidze, who came out of the church and was dressed in white, is presented as an allegory of the murder of God and holiness by the Bolsheviks in our work. Guram Gegeshidze's emphasis on the gliding blood on read flag is another visible example of the author's attitude towards the bloody Soviet regime.