New Mythology and Georgian Symbolism in European Context

New Mythology and Georgian Symbolism in European Context In the 10s of the twentieth century in the Georgian literary area, the first Symbolist group Tsisperi Qantsebi (The Blue Horns) came into being, with a clearly defined purpose and aesthetic position, which implied renewing the Georgian literature and including it into the Western context. Desiring to expand the thought area and to modernize Georgian literature, Georgian Symbolists rested on the philosophical and worldview principles of European Symbolism. Irrespective of the asynchrony of French and Georgian Symbolism, in forming of their artistic and worldview position, the Blue Horns regarded French Symbolists and particularly the “Big Four” – Charles Baudelaire, Arthur Rimbaud, Stefan Mallarme and Paul Verlaine as the main authorities.
The subject of interest and scientific research of the dissertation is an identification and analysis of the key archetypical motifs revealed in two different (Georgian and Western) cultural spaces and the new myth created in the symbolist model, studying of interrelations between Georgian and French Symbolism employing archetype (mythological) criticism. The dissertation belongs to the category of interdisciplinary studies. Considering the complexity of the studied subject – archetypical image, motif, would be unacceptable, without due consideration of the knowledge gained in different scientific disciplines – anthropology, psychology, philosophy, history of religion, wide cultural context. Moreover, on the basis of accumulated knowledge in different disciplines, Archetypal (mythological) criticism was created as a universal research strategy of the “visionary” texts (C.G.Jung’s term). In this thesis, along with the artistic texts of the Georgian and French symbolist authors, their theoretical heritage is also analyzed – letters, manifestos etc.
In the practical part of the thesis, four myths of symbolist aesthetics are studied: a) Reflection of drugs in two different symbolist models – the myth of opium, hashish and wine; b) urban myth, which is one of the main myths of symbolism. Paris, Tbilisi and its antithesis (the village, mythological space Chaldea) are studied; c) universal archetypal image of mother and father and its representation in texts; d)mythological, psychological and literary plaster of the myth of Narcissus and its new understanding. We have also studied the archetypes and archetypal motifs that are associated with four main myths that we have considered (fame fatale, bohemia, travel, auto-myth, mask, village etc.).
Our goal is to define the worldview, aesthetic and historical reasons for the activation and creation of myths in the Georgian and European symbolist paradigms, as well as analyze their functions.