“A mountain eagle and the first Pshavian swallow of the morning, Luka Razikashvili, was born the year feudalism died in Russia. Thus, he is 46 years old and has aged, incidentally, thoughtfully and well.”

Luka Razikashvili, more famously known as Vazha Pshavela (1861-1915), was a prominent Georgian poet and writer. He is the author of many world-class literary works - 36 epics, about 400 poems, plays and stories, as well as literary criticism, journalism and scholarly articles of ethnographic interest. "Vazha-Pshavela" means "a son of Pshavians" in Georgian.

In his works, even fiction, he portrays the everyday life and psychology of his contemporary Pshavs with near-ethnographic precision and depicts an entire world of mythological concepts. Vazha’s works usually evolve around the idea of the struggle against enemies, both external and internal.

Vazha-Pshavela is also unrivalled in Georgian poetry for his idiosyncratic and evocative depictions of Nature – which he deeply loved. His landscapes are full of motion and internal conflicts. His poetic diction is saturated with all the riches of his native Pshavian dialect, while maintaining impeccable literary language.

 

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Source: National Parliamentary Library of Georgia