Vicissitudes of the establishment of the Soviet Union in Georgia according to Guram Gegeshidze's novel "Voice of the Outcrier" (Gliding Blood on Read Flag)

Abstract

The tragic event of 1921 marked another painful page in the history of Georgia. Parts of the Russian 11th Army invaded Georgia on February, 1921, supporting the Bolshevik uprising. After several days of unequal fighting and heavy casualties near Kojori and Tabakhmela, Georgian units relinquished their positions and so ended the short history of the Democratic Republic of Georgia. Our country fell into the hands of Russian occupation and the seventy-year Soviet governance began. Many authors have described these tragic events of our history. Ilia Chavchadze says that the function of a writer is to awake the nation in hard times. Many Georgian writers took upon themselves this mission during the Soviet regime. However, it was often the equivalent of death. After Joseph Stalin became the leader of Soviet system in the 1930s, began the mass extermination of dissidents, including artists. The writers of the so-called first stream of anti-Soviet sentiment were: Mikheil Javakhishvili, Grigol Robakidze, Nikolo Mitsishvili, "Tsisperkhantselebi" and others.Guram Gegeshidze is a writer who worries about his country. His novels “Voice of the Outcryer” (1982), “Bloody Rains” (1991), “The Ash Tower” (2001) and “The Epiphany” (2016) describes several episodes of the historical processes in Georgia. After Stalin's death, from the 1950s to the 1980s, writers were no longer awaiting a death for criticizing the Soviet regime, but still were victims of harassment and arrest. For example, we can name the stories of Guram Dochanashvili and Chabua Amirejibi. Therefore, we think that in 1982, the publication of a novel by Guram Gegeshidze loaded with anti-Soviet ideology, "Voice of the Outcryer", required great courage on the part of the writer. Several important paradigms are noted in the work under consideration, including the concept of a father with a national spirit and his son, Kaplan and Nestor Vardanidze, which in our paper is considered to echo the epoch and is analyzed in the context of establishment of the Soviet Union. Also noteworthy is the Undiladze clan, ideologically opposed to the Vardanidze clan, which the author portrayed as a symbol of betrayal and immorality. The murder of Jambakur Vardanidze, who came out of the church and was dressed in white, is presented as an allegory of the murder of God and holiness by the Bolsheviks in our work. Guram Gegeshidze's emphasis on the gliding blood on read flag is another visible example of the author's attitude towards the bloody Soviet regime.