Real modern human!  - Sometimes we like to admit proudly, with a positive meaning, by all means. As if a modern human cannot be talentless, bed, evil …  

 

So called “Successful Individual” dominates in our contemporary times. And isn't it good? Everybody strives and longs for success, happiness, right? But is the success the most important? And after all, what is the success?  

Based on a modern understanding of success, Pirosmani was a loser. A successful artist is one who is a businessman, follows trends, sells himself and earns money.  

 

Success also abandoned Galaktioni, this asocial and strange person. As a rule, the writer must enlighten us, teach us, show the way how to live, his or her every word must be precious and their works must be best-sellers, no matter what they write, no matter we read or not, understand or not from their books. 

Suddenly, Shota Chantladze comes to my mind. The genius not well appreciated until resent day. I shall intentionally avoid using the word “appraisal”.

And Edgar Poe? He is also a quite a loser, isn’t it? He definitely is! He wanted to live on his writings. How come that you live for 40 years, equally conquering the summits of poetry and prose, giving birth to new genres. Who would see that? Who would forgive that? 

 

I cannot skip Van Gogh. You have to keep yourself away from such geniuses as much as you can. You have to watch them from distance. Or, what if he manages to cut his ear over some “posh” dinner?  

 

Surely, here, I have listed the people who have been far ahead of their times, and I wanted to say that from current point of view, they are not considered to be successful. They lacked money and popularity. 

 

So, the key point is popularity and no matter what you create. Unfortunately, it happens not only here in Georgia. However, somewhere there is a bigger space, where you can find your individual space. 

 

* * *

 

A person for whom success is most important is dangerous; the one, who can notice nothing but his /her success, cannot see anything, cannot feel anything. The feeling is completely extorted. This kind of person eradicates everything around and shows no mercy to achieve the goals.  

 

Such person is fetished today – with powerful engine of the fastest car, which will outpace everyone and hit and run on everything on the road. 

 

Football is a part of life, but the life is not only football to see the score on the table. Moreover, many wonderful teams and players were left without titles and awards.  

 

I think it is one of the reasons of crisis in modern art and literature. We are running away from sentiments. We are afraid that the falsity, fake pleasure will approach us, however, it is the most difficult thing not to avoid and not to be afraid of sentiments, to be genuine, to walk on a thin line, whereas you cannot surprise anyone with new forms and style. We also want to make quick impression, to become famous, well-known and successful, where beyond these there are emptiness and silence. 

Often, romantic, sensible person is mocked and it is not a surprise. He or she is always defeated, a constant looser. Arthur Schopenhauer worried about it, before it was cool. Years will pass from then on and Galaktioni will write: 

 

the one who night-burns Schopenhauer, 

for to live fiercely at the daylight.” 

 

No, I am not so crazy to be against progress, success. I just think that we have lost something, something very precious and unrecoverable. 

 

I would like to finalize this tiny letter with the excerpt from my yet-unfinished poem: 

 

“There was a way far away, 

with the pines along.  

we were also on our way 

starting to hit the road. 

 

where the time gave us, 

the bloody sagum. 

 

Remember my friends?

We were starting to live, 

Just starting to live,

and we failed to make it.” 

 

The project is supported by the Writers' House of Georgia.

Translated by Tamar Mirianashvili