Caucasus

Overview

Armenian and Georgian each have their own script, created in the fifth century to translate the Bible, and a continuous literature since: Rustaveli's The Knight in the Panther's Skin dates from the twelfth century. Azerbaijani was written first in Arabic characters, then Latin, then Cyrillic, then Latin again after 1991, four changes in a century. The genocide of 1915 cut short Armenian literature in full flower and moved its authors to Beirut, Paris and Boston, where it continued in diaspora. The three literatures are among the oldest in continuous use in the world.

What circulates

Russian served as a language of passage for two centuries: a Georgian author was translated in Moscow before anywhere else, and the Tbilisi studios produced for the whole Union. Since 1991 that relay has vanished without replacement, and the three literatures circulate little, including among themselves.

Limits of this grouping

Only three countries for a region that holds more: the North Caucasus republics, Chechen, Ossetian, Dagestani, belong to Russia and are found in the neighbouring zone. The border here follows states and not languages, of which the region has several dozen. Nagorno-Karabakh, disputed between two of these countries, appears on none of these maps.

Works cited

• PoetryThe Knight in the Panther's SkinვეფხისტყაოსანიShota Rustaveli · 1200Two knights bound by an oath travel through a conventional Orient to find a lost woman, in a poem that makes friendship and love a complete morality.Literature
• Short storiesՆորավէպեր եւ պատմուածքներLevon Pashalian · 1943not translated into EnglishA posthumous collection of realist short stories about Armenian life in the late nineteenth century, between Constantinople and Paris.Literature
• NovelAli and NinoƏli və NinoKurban Said · 1937A love between two worlds, in Baku, written by an author whose identity remains disputed.Literature