Nino Haratischwili: Juja (Juja)

The latest addition to my website is Nino Haratischwili‘s Juja (Juja). We follow the stories of several people, mainly women, who seemed ti be connected to Jeanne Saré. Saré, whose story we also follow, lived a lonely life, writing her depressing thoughts in an exercise book, before throwing herself in front of a train. The … Read more

Beka Adamashvili: ამ რომანში ყველა კვდება (Everybody Dies in this Novel)

The latest addition to my website is Beka Adamashvili‘s ამ რომანში ყველა კვდება (Everybody Dies in this Novel) . This is a wonderful postmodern romp by a young Georgian writer in which a fictional character called Memento Mori tries to save characters who get killed in literature (starting with Romeo and Juliet) and then teams … Read more

Iliazd: Восхищение (Rapture)

The latest addition to my website is Iliazd‘s Восхищение (Rapture). Iliazd was a futurist and surrealist so, though this is seemingly a conventional adventure story, featuring a bandit, it has surrealist touches, as well as influences from Central Asia myth, legend and culture, it also somewhat subverts the conventional adventure story. The hero is Laurence, … Read more

Mikheil Javakhishvili: კვაჭი კვაჭანტირაძე (Kvachi)

The latest addition to my website is Mikheil Javakhishvili‘s კვაჭი კვაჭანტირაძე (Kvachi). This is a book I have long been wanting to read, even since I read about it in Donald Rayfield’s essential The Literature of Georgia. We must be grateful to Dalkey Archive Press for publishing it (in a translation by Rayfield) in English, … Read more

Zaza Burchuladze: რომანი (Adibas)

The latest addition to my website is Zaza Burchuladze‘s რომანი (Adibas), another fine novel from Dalkey Archive Press’s wonderful Georgian Literature Series. This one is a supremely cynical novel by a writer known as the bad boy of Georgian literature. In this novel, Shako (aka Gio) is an actor, in between assignments, who spends most … Read more

Zurab Karumidze: დაგნი ანუ სიყვარულის დღესასწაული (Dagny or a Love Feast)

The latest addition to my website is Zurab Karumidze‘s დაგნი ანუ სიყვარულის დღესასწაული (Dagny or a Love Feast). Dagny is Dagny Juel, a Norwegian writer, model for Munch and lover of Strindberg, who, in 1901, travelled to Tbilisi, Georgia, where, after three weeks, she was murdered by her Polish lover, Władysław Emeryk. The novel is … Read more