Mariam Korinteli
Shota Rustaveli Batumi State University.
Assistant Professor.
Batumi, Georgia
Mariam Korinteli
Shota Rustaveli Batumi State University.
Assistant Professor.
Batumi, Georgia
The Caucasus and the First Chechen War in Nino Kharatishvili's
novel 'The Cat and the General'
Abstract
The German-speaking Georgian writer, Nino Kharatishvili, consistently addresses Georgia's acute, problematic, and relevant historical issues in her long-form novels. In The Eighth Life, Kharatishvili presents the consequences of the Soviet occupation, the repressions of the 1930s, and intergenerational trauma. Inadequate Light touches on the conflicts in Georgia during the 1990s and their impact on individual lives. Her 2018 novel, The Cat and the General, however, moves beyond local issues and shifts to the Caucasus' hotspot — Chechnya.
The main action of the novel takes place in Germany, but the motivation of the characters is shaped by the First Chechen War, as both the protagonists and antagonists, directly or indirectly, are connected to this conflict, despite being separated by time and distance from the actual event.
Nino Kharatishvili was inspired to write this novel by Anna Politkovskaya's book, which is based on real events in Chechnya and whose main characters are a Chechen girl and a Russian colonel. In The Cat and the General, Kharatishvili reimagines the story artistically, turning it into a tale of revenge and survival, guilt and repentance, hatred and the awakening of conscience. The inner conflicts filtered through the prism of state conflicts, the complex issues of the Caucasus, Chechen-Russian relations, and the attempts to rethink the horrific consequences of war, make the novel an unforgettable, dynamic experience, especially for readers interested in the anatomy of the conflicts provoked by Russia in the 1990s.
The novel is further intensified by the fact that the writer, inspired by Politkovskaya's book, traveled to Chechnya and heard first-hand accounts of the war.
Keywords: Nino Kharatishvili, first Chechen War, 'The Cat and the General'.