Again about Verses by Klde-Kaneli

Abstract

This article responds to Dr. Julieta Gabodze’s polemic letter, where she does not share my view about two verses printed on the paper, that are main­tained at the National Archive of Georgia. The verses are submitted to Censorship Committee by the editors of newspaper Theater in 1886 for issu­ance of publication permit. They are written under the pseudonym Klde-Ka­ne­li. Below this pseudonym we see surname Palavandishvili. Publication of mentioned verses is banned by the Committee. Klde-Kaneli’s poetic woks are stylistically very close to the Nikoloz Baratashvili’s works (one of Klde-Kaneli’s verses is titled as Baratashvili’s poem – I Found the Temple). In my opinion, these verses may have been composed by Baratashvili.

According to the memoires of Baratashvili’s contemporaries, young poet has concealed his identity and sent critical verse to Palavandishvili, Tbilisi Governor; he also wrote verses about 1832 plot (plot for liberation of Georgia was betrayed by Palavandishvili and his brother).

In the verse I Found the Temple Klde-Kaneli insults certain person and glorifies the heroes which sacrificed themselves to great idea. I suppose that this is the critical verse sent by Baratashvili to Palavandishvili and it is about Georgian plot of 1832; Palavandishvili was known as manuscripts’ collector and probably he kept these verses and later they occurred at the editor’s office of the Theater. It seems editors did not know the author’s identity or they thought that Palavandishvili was the author and submitted the verses to the Committee under the surname of a person, from whose library they came…

I cannot share Gabodze’s view that these verses were written by Bara­tashvili’s epigone. Baratashvili’s poetry was not published in his lifetime, but many families had his manuscripts and if anyone decided to write and pub­lish imitation of the poet’s verses, this would be easily opened and re­garded as literary plagiarism... I also cannot offer that the verses were writ­ten after publication of Baratashvili’s poems with the allusion to them, if it were so, the author would mention (e.g. in the epigram) that his verses were response to Baratashvili...

Gabodze offered that the author’s pseudonym is Kldekareli (a person from village Kldekari). But the text mentions Klde-Kaneli twice and I think, Gabodze’s view requires better argumentation. Georgian word “Klde” means a rock and Kana supposedly is the location (Cana of Galilee), where Jesus Christ has worked the Miracle (John 2:11). Supposedly, the pseudonym implies that irrespective of the defeat, the author is as firm as Apostle Peter (Peter /“rock”) and he hopes to see the Divine Miracle and his homeland will be liberated.

The polemist regards that the verse – I Found the Temple has no poli­tical context and it does not criticize anyone. I mentioned in my article that sections 6 and 9 of the Censorship Committee’s statute prohibit publication of the materials that are politically harmful or insult the State. The verses were banned on the basis of these articles and thus, apparently, they are of political nature.

I think there are the reasons to suppose the autor of the mentioned poems is Baratashvili...