Reading of Hamlet at Writers' House
By Mariam Chanishvili
Thursday, February 6
A reading session of the new translation of Hamlet took place at the Writers' House on February 4. The audience had a chance to listen to a new translation of Shakespeare's Hamlet presented by translator Lela Samniashvili.
After the reading, the discussion was held.
"The translation of Hamlet requires a lot of courage after Ivan Machabeli's artistic flawless translation; many may even be skeptical of the new Hamlet, though today, we need our modern 21st-century version, which we are sure will inspire Georgian filmmakers and actors," reads the description of the event.
Ivane Machabeli, who was a writer, translator, publicist, public figure, an active member of the National-Liberation Movement, never visited England. However, he translated, from 1886 to 1898, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, Richard III, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, and Coriolanus, which to this day serve as the standard versions for the repertoire of the Rustaveli Theatre.
A new translation of William Shakespeare's Hamlet was published by Artanuji Publishing in 2019.
With this meeting, the Writers' House begins a new cycle of Reading Evenings at the Writers' House, which aims at restoring the tradition that existed before. The owner of this house was Davit Sarajishvili, a pioneer in the production of Georgian Cognac.
Davit and Ekaterine Sarajishvili also had an informal literary salon where writers read their works. Ilia Chavchavadze introduced the public to Otaraant Kvrivi at the house of Davit Sarajishvili.
From now on, the guests and anyone interested in literature and poetry will be invited to read evenings once a month, where they will be able to listen to famous and newcomer writers who will read new works.
The poet and translator Lela Samniashvili was born in 1977. Her books include An Abstract Prayer (Intelekti Publishers, 2014), Fractals (Siesta Pubishing, 2010), A Permanent Tattoo (Siesta Publishing, 2006), The Snake Year (Caucasian House, 2004), and Photo-Pills (Merani, 2000). She is also the translator of Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own (Taso Foundation, 2007), Sylvia Plath's Poems (Merani, 1999) and The Bell Jar (Taso Foundation, 2009; Diogene, 2014). Her work has been translated into English, Dutch, Italian, Azerbaijani, and Russian.
In 1994-1997, she studied at Tbilisi I. Chavchavadze University of Language and Culture, specialising in the English language and later in 1999-2000 at the department of Synchronic Translation. From 2005 to 2007, she studied at Oslo University and from 2001 to 2003 she studied American literature at the University of California, Berkeley. Her verses are translated into English, Dutch, Russian and Azerbaijani languages.
