The brilliant epic novel "The Princely Life of Kvatchi K." (Nora Publishing, 2016), written in 1924 - three years after Georgia's violent annexation by Soviet Russia - still breathes its original freshness, thanks to clear, incorruptible worldview and sparkling ingenuity.
The anti-hero Kvachi Kvachantiradze is one of Georgians' favorite literary characters. Endowed with irresistible southern charm, a false patent of nobility, and a gift for unscrupulously exploiting people and circumstances, the womanizer from the deepest provinces, shrewd con man, wheeler-dealer, lover of a lavish lifestyle, manages to rise in Saint Petersburg to become the confidant of the obscure faith healer Rasputin and gain access to the Tsar's court. In the Great War and during the successive revolutions in ailing Russia, he changes colours, fronts and slogans like a chameleon and knows how to make his cut wherever he goes.
Micheil Dzhavakhishvili (1880 - 1937, murdered in the course of the Stalinist purges), is considered a co-founder of modern Georgian prose with his novels and short stories.
Kristiane Lichtenfeld, a freelance literary translator since 1980, translates from Polish, Russian and Georgian. For her translations of Georgian literature, she was awarded the Georgian Writers' Association's Matshabeli Translator's Prize in 1999. In 2015, she received the Georgian National Literary Award SABA for the translation of the book "The Garden of Dariachangi" by Otar Tchiladze.
Moderation: Prof. Manana Tandashvili, Reading: Kristiane Lichtenfeld.
Text source and further information about this event: http://www.romanfabrik.de/program/text-sound-theme/
