Psychosemiotics of the dream in Georgian artistic discourse (From realism to modernism)

Dreams in Georgian literature serve as a typologically universal yet ethnically specific cultural concept, functioning as a narrative device that provokes plot development. This analysis examines dreams through psychological and literary lenses, classifying their variations in works by Georgian realist and modernist writers from the 19th and 20th centuries. Georgian realists treated dreams as adhering to their basic principles, while writer Vazha-Pshavela used dreamlike visions as a means to access an irrational, mystical-allegorical world. Later Georgian writers, influenced by European culture, adopted modernist themes and theoretical principles in their treatment of dreams.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Abstract: The study of the dream phenomenon in Georgian artistic discourse is important because dreaming represents typological universality, although with ethno-national specificity in its performance, enabling us to understand Georgian mentality peculiarity in relation with Western tradition and also because a dream semantics (in its broadest sense), as a cultural concept, encompasses typologically similar events (prophecies, visions, dreams, prognoses, etc.), the function of which in Georgian texts demands special study, as it represents a provoking element of narrative structure. The research goal is to \ under various perspectives: exploring the dream phenomenon through uniting psychological and literary aspects; typological dreams classification and its variations in the creation by Georgian realist and modernist writers. The research main line involves three types of scientific methodology: The sociological-psychological research method of dream phenomenon; feature-based analysis of dreams and structural-contextual analysis of dreams, which presents paradigmatic variants of diverse literary processes during the 19th and 20th centuries. The Georgian realism considered that dreams adhered to their basic principles.Vazha-Pshavela, in contrast, has a dreamlike vision that is not only related to sleep but it is one of the ways of accessing the irrational world through the dreamer’s mystical-allegorical perception and myths. Vazha-Pshavela's next generation of Georgian writers, who are fond of European culture began to master and develop the themes typical to modernism, and also to it’s theoretical principles. Keywords: Dreams; psychosemiotics; Georgian artistic discourse; Modernism