Reception of Russian Classical Literature in Georgia: Pages of History - Kita Abashidze about Leo Tolstoy

Abstract

The article will present the results of the research of the article "Leo Tolstoy's New Novel ‘Resurrection’" by the prominent Georgian critic of the 19th century Kita (Ivane) Abashidze (1870-1917), published in 1900 for the fifth issue of the magazine "Moambe" ("Herald"). The study is being conducted for the first time and is new part of the series of author's works of the "Pages of History" dedicated to the reassessment of the history of the development of Georgia's critical thought. Kita Abashidze was not only a great connoisseur of Georgian, Russian and European literature, which allowed him to regard specific works in the general context of the development of the literary process, but also had a pronounced authorial position. His works were unacceptable for Soviet literary criticism: the critic was "forgotten" for a long time, and his writings were not reprinted. The reception of works of foreign literature clearly demonstrates the relevance of the problems posed in them from the position of the host culture, and the Kita Abashidze's assessment of Leo Tolstoy's novel deserves the closest attention not only as a fact of the history of Georgian critical thought. Analysis of the text reveals the main trends in the development of Georgian culture at the end of the 19th century. In our work, we tried to highlight both foreshortening: the specifics of the perception of the novel by the critic himself and the peculiarities of the reception of Leo Tolstoy's creativity by the Georgian culture of the late 19th century.