The Novel – a Metaphor of the Apocalyptic Time

Abstract

Documentary prose is a special genre that constructs a plot on real events, including segments of fiction. Stephane Kasradze’s novel “Tari-Arale”, which profoundly reflects the aspects of the historical reality of Georgia in the 1920s, belongs to the literary and documentary genre. The author of the work characterizes Kasradze’s creative phenomenon, his place in the history of Georgian literature. According to the author, the value of “Tari-Arale” as literary-documentary chronicle of apocalyptic times for Georgia is determined by the fact that the author himself was an eyewitness to the events described in the novel. Shortly after the Bolsheviks annexation of Georgia in 1921, there began the arrests and executions of progressively-minded people, the destruction of national values, the demolition of churches, the impoverishment of the population and the famine, militant atheism was established. Stephane Kasradze was one of the first in “Tari-Arale” to show dramatic moment of the demolition of the church dome and the real reaction of the society. The novel reflects the real stories of February 1921, as well as the development of events after February 1921, the moments of the uprising of August 1924, etc. The concluding part of the paper states that Stephane Kasradze’s novel presents tragic historical events in the context of traumatic memory. The definition of “institutional memory” introduced by Ned Lebow refers to the reception of historical events in a way that suits official elites. In this regard, the role of Stephane Kasradze’s metaphorical novel “Tari-Arale” is distinctive against the background of distorted, violent, communist interpretations of the 20th century reality.