The Judaic Phenomenon in Georgian Literature (Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries)

The Jewish issue is widely presented in Georgian writing. The paper touches upon works of different Georgian writers from the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries to find interesting data about Jews and the attitude towards Judaism in these works. It is especially underscored the works of a writers where the process of studying the Jewish issue gives the most interesting materials and is drawn thematic parallels with other non-Georgian writers.

The research showed that almost all Georgian writers of abovementioned period (about 20 authors overall, including classics) have got Jewish phenomenon in their writings. It is considered the cultural and political situation in Georgia of this period as background.

Researching creative work of these authors in this angle feels very interesting. It has processed the Jewish issue in the works of Georgian classical writers Ilia Chavchavadze and Akaki Tsereteli in detail, discussing samples from their work and also reviewed it in the Georgian literature of this period.

Ilia Chavchavadze and Akaki Tsereteli explicitly express their interest in the Jewish theme. The writer’s interest in this issue presented particularly in their publicism. They positively discuss everyday problems of Jews and try to defend their national and human rights in their publicistic works written at different periods.

These conclusions are drawn from the analysis and presented in a paper.