04 — The Writings
Ilia Chavchavadze’s literary corpus — the poetry and prose through which he refounded modern Georgian literature — and the ideas that run through it, including the much-quoted triad of Fatherland, Language, and Faith and the careful question of its exact status as his formulation.
Tradition: Georgian Orthodox
Ilia was, before and beneath everything else, a writer, and it is as the maker of modern Georgian literature that his nation first loved him. This section treats the works and the ideas. Two files:
- The Poetry and Prose — the major works: Letters of a Traveler, the narrative poem The Hermit, the novellas Otar’s Widow and Is That a Man?!, the satire Happy Nation, and the lyric poetry — and their place in Georgian letters.
- The Ideas and the Triad — the national and moral ideas of the corpus, and the careful handling of the triad Ena, Mamuli, Sartsmunoeba (Language, Fatherland, Faith): what Ilia actually formulated, and how the fixed slogan crystallized later.
Files
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| the-poetry-and-prose.md | Letters of a Traveler, The Hermit, Otar’s Widow, Is That a Man?!, Happy Nation, and the lyric poetry |
| the-ideas-and-the-triad.md | The national and moral ideas; the triad of Fatherland, Language, Faith and the question of its status |
See Also
- St. Petersburg and the Tergdaleulebi — the movement whose worldview the writings express
- The Journals — where much of the corpus first appeared
- Ilia and the Church — the religious dimension of the writings, especially The Hermit