Modernism as a Mythless Age in Konstantine Gamsakhurdia’s Novel “The Smile of Dionysus”

Abstract

The author's English summary from the article:

Key words: mythos, modernism, mythless age, father-son interrelation In the 20s of the 20th century Konstantine Gamsakhurdia (1891-1975) defined mod- ernism as a mythless age (cf. the essay “Literary Paris”), therefore metaphorically indicat- ing the spiritual crisis of the epoch.

It implied the presence of the existential human fear, his alienation with metaphysical-mythic prototype, the impossibility of self-identification and dehumanization. On the one hand, historical processes and cataclysms – total devel- opment of technical civilization, world war and revolutions and, on the other hand, funda- mental metaphysical “quake”, which Nietzsche called the death of God and revaluation of values provoked the above mentioned consequences. Correspondingly, western as well as Georgian modernistic literature highlighted the quest for an exit route of a human’s spiritual-cultural crisis and therefore acquisition of sense to his existence.

From this standpoint, it is worth mentioning German researcher’s Silvio Vietta’s study: “Reflection of social changes – industrialization, urbanization, new forms of communication (telephone, telegraph, railway and vehicles), new forms of media (radio, newspapers) – do not represent the main issues of a modernistic novel. The ques- tions that are raised here are completely different: the problem of modern subjectivity in society, its inner split and collapse in modernism. The instability of mentality is unveiled, an inevitable historical process peculiar for modernism” (see S. Vietta, “European Mod- ernistic Novel” // S. Vietta, “Der europäische Roman der Moderne, München, 2007.

S. 20-21). K. Gamsakhurdia’s “The Smile of Dionysus” (1924-1925) is a typical modernistic literary text, with its discourse emphasizing existential and spiritual crisis of a modern- ist human being. Simultaneously, an attempt is made to overcome the existential crisis provoked by the death of God – an unsuccessful attempt to reanimate Dionysus’ aesthetic culture – ending in failure hence demonstrating human’s existential lack of prospects in the epoch of modernism (“you are lying in a cold grave and the soul is sad”). In modernistic texts are mythological paradigms integrated (i.e. J, Joyce “Ulysses”. Gr. Robakidze’s “Snake Skin” and others), where those paradigms have double meaning: on the one hand, purely poetical-aesthetic, when mythical paradigms form compositional, narrative and imagological foundations of a text, and, on the other hand, purely ideologi- cal, when an author uses myth as means for overcoming crisis (i.e.

Gr. Robakidze’s novel “Snake Skin”). From this standpoint, K. Gamsakhurdia’s “The Smile of Dionysus” is no excep- tion. Mythical paradigms and imagology having double meaning are also represented in the text: on the one hand (Dionysian) myth, as a foundation for text composition, narrative line and imagology and, on the other hand, (Dionysian) myth as an ideological founda- tion for the novel – an attempt to overcome mythless existence and establish new values. However, the revival of the myth did not turn out to be means for overcoming existential crisis but an illusionary-ephemeric ideological action. The paradigm of father-son interrelation is worth mentioning in “The Smile of Dio- nysus”, which is of onto-existential character and is one of the motifs of modernistic texts (cf.

Gr. Robakidze’s “Snake Skin”, or J. Joyce’s “Ulysses”). Mythical image of a father is a symbolic representation of a lost prototype in modernism, and the denial of a father by the son and the father’s curse of his son demonstrates the ontho-existential lack of pros- pects and alienation with metaphysical basis of a contemporary human being.

Published in the journal Sjani, vol. 13 (2012), pp. 66–86. Open the paper