SOCIAL THEMES IN GEORGIAN AND ARABIC ROMANTICISM

Abstract

The present article discusses the attitude of Georgian and Arab romanticists towards social issues.

For Georgian romanticists social themes did not become an object of serious consideration, which had its own objective reasons. Due to their status (they were mainly representatives of aristocratic or high circles), by their lifestyle they were far from the life of the ordinary people, their needs. The everyday situation of the people was at least distant for them, if not foreign. Therefore, the pictures depicting life of the low social strata, described in the poems of Georgian romanticists obviously leave an impression of being seen from afar, sometimes being a just means of paying tribute. At the same time, such poems were mainly written after the appearance on the arena of the new generation, the Tergdaleulis, perhaps, under their influence. Criticism of the existing inequality, oppression, vicious sides is clearly of general character. However, their poems on this topic deserve high evaluation from the viewpoint of poetic art.   

In the case of Aleksandre Chavchavadze, it should be taken into consideration that the poet engaged in his activity and fulfillment of his duties, could not have hadsufficient time and desire for familiarization with the situation and conditions of everyday life of the Georgian working people, their ordinary representatives. His poem Woe to This World and its Tenants, in which he condemns the inequality and oppression existing in the society, its vicious aspects, is very general and cannot be regarded as an expression of the poet’s worldview.

 The same can be said regarding Grigol Orbeliani. However, he is the author of the brilliant poem ‘Worker Bokuladze’, written in the 1870s. Gr. Orbeliani was always a defender of interests of the representatives of his rank. In one of his letters he complains of the objective and subjective factors that led the Georgian nobility to the deterioration of their condition.

 Mikheil Tumanishvili in the poems Salamuri and Changuri depicts the feelings and suffering of the people oppressed by life, he wishes changes in this world, but cannot see a way leading to these changes and passes into the world of dreams, generally characteristic of romanticists, dreams about the country in which life “will never be darkened by clouds of sorrow”. Mamia Gurieli appears as a preacher of social equality and supporter of the social structure which will liberate human being from poverty.        Vakhtang Orbeliani in his two large poems ‘Queen’ (1882) and ‘That is the Woman’ (1883) regards as the primary obligation of a ruler of the country the love for one’s homeland, care for the country and people, irrespective of whether they are rich or poor, whereas according to the poem ‘To a Poet’, the obligation of a poet is to take care of everyone, especially, to reflect the life of the working people.            

Among the Georgian romanticists, Nikoloz Baratshvili was distinguished by the most powerful struggling spirit. He struggles relentlessly against the situation obtaining around him. The poet with the orphan spirit (poet) declares a life and death struggle against the black raven (situation around him), calls upon everyone not to surrender to fate, to struggle in order to defeat it and its sure of the victory.

In Arab romanticism social motifs are more abundant. Arab romanticists not only pose social problems, but also offer their own ways of overcoming them. Focusing their attention on these issues was also due to the fact that, unlike Georgian romanticists, the majority of them were from the low and medium social strata (Gibran, Abu Shadi, Abu Madi), who experienced themselves the social difficulties. The dissatisfaction with the social structure in the Arab countries, its criticism and struggle for its transformation were reflected most powerfully in Gibran’s work, then in the poetry of Ash-Shabi and Abu Madi, whereas the issue of emancipation of women – very urgent for the Arab world – in the work of Gibran and Al-Manfaluti.

In the stories of his early period, Gibran Khalil Gibran devoted great attention to the description of oppositions existing between various strata in Lebanon. He tried to expose the vicious sides of the society, was relentless in criticism of the society where “a wise man is sitting next to an ignorant man and is singing praises of him”, “genuine freedom is wandering all alone in the streets and in vain is asking the people a shelter”. “the poor sow and rich reap…” Here “the religion is buried in the pages of books, its place is occupied by the superstition”, etc. According to Gibran, there is no justice in the world, the laws invented by people fail to ensure their freedom, lifeis the struggle of the powerful and the weak. The powerful always wins, freedom is trampled down. An educated man is rejected and abandoned.                       

In the view of Tunisian Abu l-Qasim Ash-Shabi, in this society dignity, virtue and honesty are not valued, it is arranged so that it forces the poor to become a villain in order to survive, the society is unable to appreciate a man’s merit objectively, to return good for good. When the Son of God appeared to human beings and preached the truth, they considered Him as an evil spirit, captured and put Him to death.

As compared with other Arab romanticists, Gibran had the best understanding of the nature of the social order, he saw that the society was divided into classes and the reason for this was the economic situation. In oppressing the people, the ruling aristocracy was supported by the clergy. They forgot to care about the spiritual life of the people and turned fraud into profession.

Criticizing social injustice, Arab romanticists strictly marched against tyranny and despotism. In order to avoid trouble from the rulers of the country, Khalil Mutran resorted to a tried method of romanticists, to criticize tyranny and despotism he transferred action into the remote past (poems Nero, Murder of Buzarjomehr, Coffee Cup). Ash-Shabi expressed the belief that tyranny has an end and the people will out an end to it.

The negative attitude of Arab romanticists towards the society is so strong that often they fail to see anything positive in it. Ash-Shabi regards the members of the society sick with fever, calls them “ignorant souls”, who despise light and pass their life in darkness. Gibran, in the works written under the influence of Nietzsche, refers to a great part of the society as “marsh reptiles”, “children of monkeys”, “pigs”. Gibran and Ash-Shabi are driven by the desire to purge the society from the “persons redundant” for life. They call upon the “storm” and “flood” to sweep them away (Gibran), “the woodcutter” and his “axe” to remove the dead branches, i.e. the redundant persons, the living dead (Ash-Shabi).

In the opinion of Arab romanticists, the social inequality causes vice and evil. In their work, the image of a villain (criminal), popular with romanticists, occupies a significant place. Its depiction is one more form of their critical attitude towards reality. In their view, the laws that are in the service of the high strata deprive a person of his freedom, emphasize the lack of his rights. Lebanese Abu Shabaqa calls the laws invented by people the “laws of the jungle”. In order to describe the opposition between the society and a person, the laws and a person, the romanticists create two images: a criminal-victim and a criminal-villain. According to the Arab romanticists, a person is not born as a criminal, he is formed as such during his relation with the society. The indifferent attitude of the society to a person and the difficult living conditions of the person himself drive an ordinary man to become a criminal (Gibran’s The Cry of the Graves, Al-Manfaluti’s The ChildrenofShaytan). Their sympathy is clearly directed towards the criminal-victim. They believe that to achieve human freedom it is necessary to struggle. Gibran says: “…If you see a slave sleeping, wake him and explain to him freedom”.

Gibran thinks that it is necessary to reform the current order in Lebanon. Like the enlighteners, he regarded the introduction of education among the people as one of the ways of such reforming. However, education alone was not sufficient. If necessary, force must have been used. Thus, there are two ways: one – perfection of the inner world and the other – use of force. For Al-Manfaluti the way of elimination of the social inequality is not clear. He only offers the image of such a world in the form of the “City of Happiness”. In Ash-Shabi’s poetry the necessity of struggling against social injustices is highlighted. He sees the way of obtaining freedom in struggle. Abu Madi supports the overcoming of the conflict existing in the society by means of moral principles. He puts hopes for establishing the universal wellbeing in this world only on God.