Mythic Paradigms in Grigol Robakidze’s Novel The Cry of the Goddess

Abstract

The article opens with an overview of the worldview-philosophical foundations of the poetics of Grigol Robakidze's novels. Namely, it discusses Goethe's doctrine about Urphaenomen on the one hand and the Nietzschean Die ewige Wiederkunft des Gleichen on the other. It is argued that, based on the above-mentioned teaching of Goethe, Robakidze revisited and fundamentally transformed the Nietzschean concept.
The article proceeds by discussing two mythic paradigms, Die ewige Wiederkunft des Gleichen and the myth of Dali, represented in Robakidze's novel The Cry of the Goddess (Germ. Der Ruf der Göttin, 1934). Particular attention is paid to the literary interpretation and blending of the myths. The final part summarizes research findings and concludes that, in The Cry of the Goddess, the embedding of Ursprung in the historical phenomenon is Robakidze’s interpretation of the paradigm of Die ewige Wiederkunft des Gleichen, while the conflict between the mythical and the historical shown in the love of the main character, as well as his death, echoes the paradigm of Dali's myth.