The Dictates of Vulgar Realism and the Modernist Manifesto of Konstantine Gamsakhurdia

Abstract

As the Soviet system stabilized in the latter half of the 1920s, a stringent mechanism of ideological control took effect. In his 1930 publication, "Left Eye," Konstantine Gamsakhurdia included a short parabolic novel titled "The Wisdom of Lies." Under the guise of establishing a connection with Sulkhan-Saba Orbelian's book of fables (17th century), he crafted a modernist manifesto intricately intertwined with the anti-realist concepts of Friedrich Nietzsche and Oscar Wilde. Konstantine Gamsakhurdia's novella "The Wisdom of Lies" stands as a remarkable testament to the preservation of creative freedom under totalitarian pressure within Georgian literature of the 20th century.