A Narrative of the Creative Life of a Georgian Traditionalist and Feminist Woman Writer

In the 60s of the XIX century, young Ilia Chavchavadze, beginning to present in a new way the issues related to traditional literary principles, trends, and translation activities, in the journalistic article “A Few Words…” (which was published in the magazine “Tsiskari”); he actually confronts the generation for which these old traditions are inviolable. Among those who controverses Ilia Chavchavadze, for the first time, a woman (poet, playwright, publicist) appears, a mother of a family, a worthy member of society, to whom Ilia Chavchavadze’s views are alien. Later, this poetess, Barbare Eristavi-Jorjadze herself (1833-1895), was joined in a contest with the prominent representative of the “New Generation” poet and publicist Akaki Tsereteli. However, the confrontation between Ilia and Akaki did not mean a rejection of Barbare Jorjadze, which was also expressed in the fact that the Georgian theater they restored opened with a play by Jorjadze (Tsereteli 1960). The aim of the article is to present the contribution of this remarkable writer, Barbare Jorjadze, to Georgian literature and even to the process of confrontation between generations, especially since she was one of the first, whose “Georgian Cuisine and Family Recipes” (1874) became a table-top model for Georgian housewives throughout the century, as well as her poems “To a Man”, “To Men” and the publicistic note “A Few Words for the Attention of Young Men”, where she decisively raised the issue of gender equality, became important (Gaprindashvili, 2014). Our study aims to present Barbara Jorjadze’s views to foreign researchers, to highlight its negative and positive sides, which is very important in the history of the struggle for women’s emancipation on the example of Georgia. Historical-comparative methodology is used, and the conclusions draw attention to the work of B. Assessment of Jorjadze's contribution both by her contemporaries and today, in the 21st century (Bakradze, 1960).