Kvachi Kvachantiradze
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| Author | Mikheil Javakhishvili |
|---|---|
| Original title | კვაჭი კვაჭანტირაძე |
| Translator | Donald Rayfield |
| Country | Georgia |
| Language | Georgian |
| Series | Georgian Literature Series |
| Genre | Novel Picaresque novel Grotesque |
| Publisher | Dalkey Archive Press |
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Publication date
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1924 |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 512 pages |
| ISBN | |
Kvachi Kvachantiradze (Georgian: კვაჭი კვაჭანტირაძე) is a novel written by Mikheil Javakhishvili in 1924. It was translated by Donald Rayfield in 2015. This is the best Picaresque novel in Georgia.
This book was originally a collection of sketches. Javakhishvili decided to rework it into a novel in 1924 and this novel was published in 1925. As it glorified pre-war France and condemned the Russian Revolution and the Soviet invasion of Georgia, a new version was issued in 1934, heavily censored by the Soviet censors. Even in 2011, the reissue only used the 1934 text, not the 1925 one. This translation uses the 1925 text.
The hero of this book, Kvachi Kvachantiradze, is a thoroughly scurrilous rogue but, like many a literary rogue, a charming one. He charms us and he charms the people he meets, who seem to be not only unaware of his treachery but even thank him for his help. The book starts with the day of his birth, an auspicious day. There is a heavy thunderstorm. A tree is broken in two by lightning and the only other inn in town, a rival of the inn of Kvachi's father, Silibistro, is destroyed. The baby Kvachi is born already uttering the word me. A fortune teller forecasts that he will be a great man, get what he wants and bring fortune to his family. Apart from a brief digression about how his parents came to marry (they are cousins), we immediately follow Kvachi's early life. He is a very precocious child, walking and talking early, and helping in his parents' inn.
Silibistro is snobbish and is certain that he descends from nobles but cannot prove it. He spends a fortune on doing so, till he finally gets a man to issue him with a certificate of nobility. The man is a notorious swindler but Silibistro is happy with his certificate and becomes even more snobbish. Kvachi is sent to Kutaisi (the second largest city in Georgia) to study and it is here that he develops his sharp ways. He stays with a couple, he an elderly man, she, Tsviri, much younger. As they do not have a child of their own, Tsviri starts mothering him but, as he gets older, mothering becomes loving and he becomes her lover, for which she gives him gifts. Little does she know that she is not the first but she soon finds out that he sees (and is paid by) other women. Kvachi is very astute with money. He borrows at an opportune moment, promising to repay promptly but, of course, never does. When someone is short, he offers to lend them money but never does.
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