Temur Jagodnishvili
PhD in Philology
Georgian Technical University
Professor
Head of the Department of Georgian
Philology and Media Technologies
Tbilisi, Georgia
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-5878-8889
Temur Jagodnishvili
PhD in Philology
Georgian Technical University
Professor
Head of the Department of Georgian
Philology and Media Technologies
Tbilisi, Georgia
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-5878-8889
Raphiel Eristavi and the Georgian people
Raphiel Eristavi is known as a poet, writer, dramatist, ethnographer, folklorist, lexicologist –lexicographer, journalist and a great public figure who dedicated himself to many national affairs and contributed to the awakening of national consciousness.
Many of his contemporaries have already written about the amazing diversity of his work. Akaki stood out in this regard.
During the preparations for Raphiel Eristavi's jubilee, in May 1895, he announced to Georgians ("Kvali", No. 22) that in order to appreciate the work of Raphiel Eristavi, it was necessary to compare a thousand small things, to understand them as a whole.
Even one human temporality was enough to forget his many-sided work.
Three weeks after Raphiel Eristavi's death, on March 12, 1901 ("Iveria", No. 57), this circumstance told Akaki: if Raphiel Eristavi had not been a poet, as a public figure, he would have remained unnoticed.
Akaki cited the fact that Rafiel Eristavi worked in Western Georgia and not in Tbilisi, "where every step, no matter how small, is visible".
If at the dawn of the 20th century, they saw only poetry as valuable and durable in the work of Raphiel Eristavi, after a few decades they found a flaw in such a case as the censorship of the Georgian language.
Contrary to Alexander Jabadari's recollection, according to which Raphiel Eristavi said to him: I don't know how long I will be a censor. If you have something to print in terms of censorship, present it to me quickly ("Mnatobi", 1934, No. 1-2, p. 273), It is as if Rafiel Eristavi will not fulfill one promise – the promise to print "Bedi Kartlisa" of Nikoloz Baratashvili (I. Imedashvili).
In this case, Raphiel Eristav's employment status was not taken into account - great suspicion and mistrust on the part of the government, which was manifested in his demotion (from the ruler of Samegrelo to censorship) – censorship was a chance for him to maintain his livelihood
Keywords: National consciousness, Anniversary, Censorship, Merit, Public figure