In What Language Was Akaki’s Play «Arsena» Written?

ანოტაცია

In the final volume (Vol. XV) of the Complete Collection of Akaki Tsereteli’s Works, published in the 1960s, four works were printed under the heading «Works of the Youth Period»: the poem «В альбом невесты» (In a Bride's Album), a candidate thesis submitted to St. Petersburg University titled «Несколько слов в пользу оригинальности «Барсовой кожи» (A Few Words in Favor of the Originality of «The Knight in the Panther's Skin»), and two plays: «Разбойник Арсений» (The Robber Arsena) and «Семейная революция» (Family Revolution).

The editor-in-chief, Giorgi Abzianidze, concludes the volume’s notes and comments with the following statement: «Regardless of whether this play [referring to «The Robber Arsena»] was written in Georgian or Russian, in both cases it is a product of Akaki's creativity and represents a noteworthy fact in the history of Georgian literature» (Akaki Tsereteli, Complete Collection of Works in 15 Volumes, Vol. XV, p. 703). While this view is certainly beyond dispute, it is nevertheless essential—alongside many other factors—to determine the language in which the author originally wrote the play.

The play «The Robber Arsena»has not been published anywhere else, neither before nor after the publication of the fifteen-volume set. It is known to the public that since 2010, a full twenty-volume academic edition of Akaki Tsereteli’s works, prepared by the Department of Textology at the Shota Rustaveli Institute of Georgian Literature, has been in publication. Readers have already received thirteen volumes; Volumes XIV and XVI are currently in press. Volume XVI of this edition is to be dedicated to Russian-language works; accordingly, it is necessary to study the creative history of all of Akaki's Russian-language works discovered to date, including the play «The Robber Arsena ».

Presumably, the play was written between 1860 and 1866, when Akaki Tsereteli lived primarily in Moscow after finishing university. During this period, he created numerous works. Although the poet wrote mostly in the Russian language at that time, the themes and problems of his compositions were often Georgian. Generally, Akaki drew the plots of his artistic works from Georgian reality. In the play «The Robber Arsena», the action also takes place in Georgia: the love between Nino and Giorgi is sacrificed to human immorality. Giorgi is forced to change his name and fight against injustice.

In the text, the influence of the folk «Verse of Arsena» is clearly felt, though Akaki develops the action in an entirely original way. An important source for establishing the creative history of the work is the drama «Arsena» (the first act), which was printed in the 8th issue of the journal Tsiskari in 1868.