Representations of Stalin in Characters’ Dreams According to Zaira Arsenishvili's Prose

Abstract

The aim of the article is to show how the trauma caused by the Stalinist regime reflected on the human unconscious in Post-Soviet Georgian literature. The issue, which had not been the subject of special research before, was analyzed according to three prose texts by the modern Georgian writer Zaira Arsenishvili (1933–2015): "Requiem for Bass, Soprano and Seven Instruments or a Portrait of a Young Writer", “Oh, World!", and "When Fear and Trembling are Raging". The theories of trauma and possible worlds were taken as the general context of the research, and, while conceptual metaphor is used as a specific, data diagramming is used as the main method. The study showed that the Georgian literary dreams of Soviet reality reflect the difficult political and social situation of 20th century Georgia; representing Stalin as a dictator and revealing the psychological trauma caused by the Soviet regime.