Literary Evening at Embassy of the Czech Republic in Georgia
By Mariam Chanishvili
Wednesday, March 28
A literary evening devoted to the Georgian translations of two Czech writers – Vaclav Havel (former President of the Czech Republic) and Petr Sabach took place at the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Georgia on March 26.
The works were introduced by Maia Nachkebia, Georgian translator of Czech and Slovak literature. The presentation was followed by invitation to Georgian wine.
The Ambassador of Czech Republic to Georgia, HE Tomas Pernicky opened the ceremony, welcomed the guests and thanked Nachkebia for her work.
During the presentation, Nachkebia talked about Vaclav Havel, whose activities as a dissident, essays, bravery and ultimately his political career have overshadowed his enormous talents as a playwright.
His first three major plays, The Garden Party, The Memorandum and The Increased Difficulty of Concentration, were produced in the years of the Prague Spring, but from the Russian invasion of 1968 onwards, he was a banned writer, unperformed in his own country and excluded from any rehearsal process.
She has also translated work of Petr Sabach, a Czech novelist, who studied at Charles University, as well as works of Julius Barc-Ivan, who was a Slovak writer.
Nachkebia has also translated works of Ivan Hudec, Slovak writer and playwright. His novel - "Experiment" Love "- describes the relationship of a couple in 1998 with the problems of the era.
Throughout the evening, Nachkebia read several passages from her various translations of the above mentioned authors.
Senior Researcher of the Shota Rustaveli Institute of Georgian Literature, Gaga Lomidze thanked Nachkebia for the presentation and noted that Havel’s plays should be staged in Georgia, because of the interesting and partly shared experiences between Georgia and the Czech Republic.
Diplomatic relations between Georgia and the Czech Republic were established on January 1, 1993.
