Powerless Evil: Iveria, 1897, Nos. 161–162

Iveria, 1897, Nos. 161–162

Abstract

This article examines Iakob Gogebashvili’s essay Powerless Evil (Iveria, 1897, Nos. 161–162), written in response to Giorgi Tsereteli’s unfavorable critique of his children’s stories The Guardian of the Harvest and King Erekle and the Ingilo Woman. Gogebashvili denounces both Kvali’s editorial stance and Tsereteli’s evaluation, arguing that the criticism was shaped by personal bias rather than by literary or historical criteria.

In defending King Erekle and the Ingilo Woman, Gogebashvili asserts its historical plausibility, citing oral traditions and Aleksandre Orbeliani’s accounts. He highlights the longstanding tradition of Georgian women’s courage, documented in chronicles and preserved in collective memory, pointing to figures such as Princess Tekla as emblematic of national self-consciousness.

The essay also underscores the patriotism and civic virtue of the Georgian peasantry, qualities disregarded by Kvali’s critic. Gogebashvili interprets this omission as evidence of the journal’s social shortcomings and condemns its dismissive attitude toward the peasant class. While polemical in tone, the text nonetheless acknowledges Tsereteli’s literary talent and his influence on public opinion.

By situating this exchange within the broader context of nineteenth-century Georgian letters, the essay illustrates the dynamics of literary polemics and the contested space of national and social representation in Georgian literary criticism.