Thornton Wilder has been one of my favorite authors since the 90-ties of the last century. I have been studying Classical Philology at the Tbilisi State University. Soon after the Soviet Union fell down, immerged translations of American literature of the 20th century. The American culture was the inspiration for Soviet people for their fight against dictatorship and regime. So I found the publication of Wilder's "Ides" and "The Bridge of San Luis Rey" on the flee market and purchased it. The name of the author by that time was not familiar, but "Ides" provoked my interest, as it was obvious that something inside this book would tell about Caesar's world. In my Latin classes, Caesar's "Bellum Gallicum" was a must-to-read text and I was sure I would impress my teachers.
Time passed and I started my job as a teacher of Georgian Literature and language at the Guivy Zaldastani American Academy in Tbilisi – a high school, with the financial support of the US State Department founded by Guivy Zaldastanishvili, Harvard alumni and distinguished American businessman. His family immigrated from Georgia soon after the Soviet regime was established and he devoted all his energy to fight against the Soviets, together with his brother, the distinguished American architect, Otar Zaldastanishvili, a builder of Boston Airport and "Copley Place", Palm Beach, and many other famous architectural constructions. During my work, during the class discussions about different topics, I was making references to Wilder's "Ides." Surprisingly for me, students had no idea about this author, in spite of the fact that they were studying American Literature.
Another issue concerning teaching literature at the high school is language – spoken or written. What impact the English language has on the spoken Georgian language? How to upgrade the spoken language, enrich it with the possibilities of English? To address these issues and to meet the need of enriching the curricula with modern Georgian translations of foreign authors, I returned to Wilder's "Ides." What can I say? He is the true master of a word! He uses a sentence to "draw" a portrait of a character.
The third reason for me to return to this novel was of pedagogical character – to make historical parallels between individuals, who have never been connected and thus to ensure students' interest and provoke them to remember what is studied. A famous Georgian poet of XIX c. Alexander Chavchavadze and his "strange" death are one of the topics studied in 11th grade. nobody can say for sure, whether he committed suicide, or he was assassinated, or it may be an accident. In my literature class, after studying this author, an idea of a project arose: I made a commitment to translate "The Ides of March" (since I was planning it for many years and never found time), and the students were obliged to create a pack of letters (following Wilder's technique), reflecting the story connected with the death of the author. I fulfilled my promise, students did not, and the reasons are obvious – they are not masters of a word. This failure gave ground to new discussions and a series of classes devoted to improving writing skills. I think, Thornton Wilder, being himself a teacher of Literature, would agree with me.
Another side of this experience is the connection of Wilder's Caesar with Alexander Chavchavadze. Wilder's Caesar is on the "top of the world" (as Wilder says about him), not only because of his origin or ancestors but mainly because of his personal qualities that distinguish him from any other person. Alexander Chavchavadze's father betrayed the last king of Georgia, played the main role in abolishing the Georgian kingdom, and for this "merit" the Empress of Russia Ekaterina II baptized his newborn son – Alexander. Later, in his teen ages, he fought against Russian occupation, but was captured and soon was appointed as the head of Russian military forces in the Caucasus, in the rank of Field marshal. Prince Chavchavadze served the Russian regime in this rank for more than 40 years and then... he died in an accident. It may have been a suicide, or he was assassinated by Georgian patriots, or by Russians because they never trusted him. Wilder, in his novel, touches on the question of death and life. He presents his version of Caesar's death and says that he himself provoked his assassination. In his life, nobody could live who acted (as Socrates says: I act, thus I live).
Translation of Wilder's other masterpiece "Our Town" is connected also with my work in the GZAAT (Guivy Zaldastani American Academy in Tbilisi). As I mentioned above, we introduce in our curricula not only Georgian writers' works, but foreign literature as well to make parallels. "Our Town": is the rarest text, which is:
a) short
b) written by a teacher
c) is very popular in school drama clubs
d) follows all characteristics of drama
d) language is simple, but ideas are deep
e) inspires discussions about major topics, such as: what is life? what is happiness? thus may be brought as a parallel to almost any text we study.
I am waiting for new inspiration to start translating other Wilder masterpieces. If Georgian readers enjoy my attempts in translation, it will be very helpful and will give me new energy to continue making Wilder speak in Georgian.
Written by Nino Ghambashidze - translator of Thornton Wilder's "Ides of March and "Our Town" in Georgia
Edited by Mariam Khaduri
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