As the creator of 'The
Man in the Panther Skin' ('Vepkhistqaosani'), the pinnacle of medieval Georgian
poetry, the poet Shota Rustaveli (who lived at the turn of the 12th-13th centuries)
is one of the greatest exponents of Georgian culture. This in-depth study uses
connected themes to trace his poetry's influences in Western European literature.
An analysis of the characters and key motifs in the 6,500-line episodic work identifies
features shared with 'A King and No King' and 'Philaster', popular Jacobean tragicomedies
by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, thus establishing a framework for the reconstruction
of early cultural contacts between Georgia and Western Europe. The vibrant themes
of courtly love, friendship and chivalry in 'The Man in the Panther Skin' link
Rustaveli's humanistic worldview clearly to those of writers such as Dante and
Petrarch, ideas that developed in the Late Medieval period and led to the flowering
of the Renaissance. Rustaveli's contribution thus shows Medieval Georgian cultural
and social thought to be an integral part of the wider European movement, resulting
from centuries of cross-fertilisation-as evidenced in the spread of Georgian studies
in the West, from the first mentions in Classical times to the development of
modern Georgian and Rustvelological studies as well as the rich tradition of translations
of Rustaveli's masterpiece into European languages. THE AUTHOR: Elguja
Khintibidze is Professor of Old Georgian Literature at Tbilisi State University.
He is also head of the university's Institute of Georgian Literature, and chairman
of the Fund for Kartvelian Studies. He is the author or editor of more than 200
books and articles published in Europe and Georgia, including 'Georgian-Byzantine
Literary Contacts', 'Georgian Literature in European Scholarship' and 'The Worldview
of Rustaveli's The Man in the Panther's Skin'.
- 208 pages, 138 x
208mm, with 21 colour illustrations Published by Bennett & Bloom,
2011 |