The Desacralized Mythologeme of the Deer and the Modern Paradigm in Vazha-Pshavela's Prose

Abstract

During the second part of the 19th century, when modern ideas infiltrated art, Vazha-Pshavela established a mythologized realm in Georgian literature. His wri­tings did more than just subtly criticize the dehumanization process as a whole. The author critiqued and artistically declared the new era's dehumanized way of thinking. The mythological realm of Vazha-Pshavela and the origins of myths have been extensively documented. My goal is to study one mythological aspect in his prose, which determines the artistic and ideological features of the writer's entire work.

Considering that the deer is the symbol of Vazha-Pshavela's whole work, the process of confronting the modern era's desacralized consciousness is linked to the deer's mythologeme in his literature. The author transitions from his own creative paradigm, in which the universe is mythologized and sacred for the heroes, to a new ideological-artistic paradigm in which he uses allegory to portray a completely desacrilized and demythologized era. I shall focus on the modern era's thought patterns as they are presented in the article. I shall attempt to convey the meaning of the text in question using the hermeneutic research technique.

In Vazha-Pshavela's works, the depiction of the deer's face is deeply rooted in its mythical significance, symbolizing nature's regenerating force. It's portrayed as a divine creature, not just sacred but also a force against evil, a theme also seen in Christian tradition and echoed in the writer's works.

In Vazha-Pshavela's allegorical work “Deer”, published in 1906, the face of the deer serves a distinct purpose. However, regardless of the specific role it plays in his prose, the underlying mythological significance of the deer is always present. It is intertwined with the idea of the patron of the beasts, ensuring that this mythological motif is consistently honored throughout the narrative.

The patron of the beasts, about whom Vazha-Pshavela's characters, people and animals tell us, with whom hunters are most careful, in the work – "Deer" – is desubstantiated in people's consciousness. Vazha-Pshavela presents this event in an allegorical narrative as a public one, concerning humanity.

Vazha-Pshavela's allegorical narrative echoes Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of the death of God, which symbolizes the loss of sacredness and significance in nature. In the story, Vazha-Pshavela portrays the desacralization of humanity's conscious­ness by depicting the demise of the patron of the beasts, akin to the death of Pan. This reflects a departure from the reverence for nature and divine entities. It's possib­le that Vazha-Pshavela's worldview, as depicted in this allegory, contrasts with Nietzsche's idea, where desacralization is viewed positively.

In Vazha-Pshavela's story, by expelling the patron of the beasts from people's consciousness, the god of the rebirth of nature dies, who symbolizes eternal return, renewal and restoration. Man loses the ontological connection, which was the orientation of his existence, the giver of knowledge. With this expulsion, humanity loses its ontological connection, which previously guided its existence and provided knowledge. This act frees humanity from the perceived "will" of God, aiming to liberate individuals from the ontological confusion that modernity has brought upon them.

The process of deer hunting was the path of sacred. Profane hunting was not important to myth and folklore. While hunting, the hunter gained such experience that he could not get in his everyday environment "at home". Therefore, hunting carries the symbolism of spiritual search. Hunting also gained importance in Christian culture – a deer hunter can become a saint.

From the outset of the narrative, there's an implicit presence of the religious community aiming to hunt down the deer. Even the monk, representing both my­thical and Christian beliefs, seeks to slay the deer, which symbolizes God. The attempt to transform the act of killing into a sacrificial offering reflects a departure from the true essence of sacramental reality.

In this story, Vazha-Pshavela depicted the desacralization of the consciousness of the modern era by abrogating the mythic-Christian law of the symbolic-allegorical pursuit of the deer. Man still chases the deer, but in a different way, for a different purpose. He doesn't want to hunt a deer, he wants to kill it. This murder should make a person discover a new existential reality – meaninglessness.

In Vazha-Pshavela's writings, the forest serves as a sanctuary for the deer, providing them with a sacred haven devoid of human presence. Within the embrace of nature, they find refuge, a space untouched by human influence. With the desubstantiation of the patron of the beasts, the entire mythic-allegorical paradigm of the forest, deer and patron deity was broken and the traditional mythic content of the forest was also created, so the writer created a new sign for the new artistic-semantic paradigm created in this text in the form of the sea. The chased deer disappeared into the sea.

The essay examines two realms of consciousness. The first is depicted in the story, representing the modern era's new realm of human thought. Here, notions are demythologized and desacralized, devoid of any sacred reality. And the second plane — the mythical model of the world, which is still implied beyond the consciousness of modern man and opposes the first one.

Considering these two planes of consciousness depicted in the work, the topos of the sea, where the deer takes refuge, has a double meaning. For the man of the modern age, the sea is nothing, and is nothingness into which the deer has been driven. And from the second plane of consciousness, the sea for the deer is the essence of nature, like the dense forest, although it is alien and fantastic.

The work also introduces us to the perspective of the society left without a sacred icon. After the annulment of the sacred, the subsequent process of expanding the limit of admission to a person is the individual basis of values, where personal gain and material interests determine one's worth. In the consciousness of people, there is no longer a common correctness and representation of the idea of ​​truth and justice. Their interest is reduced to private material benefits. Expanding the boundaries of permissiveness and individualizing values ​​becomes a sign of destroyed logocentrism. Vazha-Pshavela's allegorical story presents the perspective of the thinking and morality of the 20th century society.

The writer incorporates two significant themes of the modern era into the narrative: urbanization and accelerated pace. The story paints a surreal image where the city becomes the displaced animal's path, while the exaggerated, unrealistic speed of both people and deer takes on allegorical significance, mirroring the accelerated existential and social pace characteristic of modern times.

The worldview change of the modern era was also revealed in Vazha-Pshavela's work by the de-sacralization/demythologizing of the mythologeme of the deer and the patron of the beasts and by substantiating the latter's absence. The comparison/parallel of desacralization revealed in the discussed story with Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophical statement about the death of God as a turning point in humanity's consciousness shows that Vazha-Pshavela saw the change of the era from a deep and broad perspective, and his work is open to reflecting and confronting these changes.

In the discussed story, Vazha-Pshavela depicts the moral and philosophical pathos of the new era. Compared to the poem "Conscience", in which the writer says that people have killed God in their hearts, this work shows the signs of the modern era – desacralization (abolition of the mythical paradigm of deer, hunting deity and forest), delogocentrism, individual basis of values, urbanization, accelerated pace of life. This text also confronts the modern inertia and man's desire for the divine, be it in mythical or Christian form, the inner rightness and aspiration is unchanged.

Vazha-Pshavela, rooted in myth-making as the cornerstone of his artistic philosophy, also portrays the fracture of mythical thought. His literary exploration of the desacralization and demythologizing of consciousness in the modern era marks a novelty and innovation within both his own body of work and the broader Georgian literary paradigm of that time.