A national figure as a memory site: reinterpretations of Ilia Chavchavadze in the 1910s–1940s

ABSTRACT The paper deals with the multifaceted representation of Georgian public figure Ilia Chavchavadze (1837–1907). Paradoxically, he is treated as a great and gifted son of Georgia by various and sometimes drastically different segments of modern Georgian society. In the framework of memory studies, Ilia is a stunning example of how certain historical figures are manipulated by different regimes to legitimize their power and/or to stake their political claims. For the Soviet regime, he was a fighter for equality and revolutionary changes. By researching different attitudes towards Ilia from the historical perspective and using theories of cultural memory, numerous questions related to controversial interpretations of Ilia Chavchavadze’s activities will be answered. The aim of the given research is to analyze the narrative dynamics surrounding Ilia Chavchavadze’s personality and to analyze the struggle between narratives which ended in the complete triumph of the official policy of memory within a strict ideological framework. We focus on the nature and reasons for the dramatic transformations of Ilia Chavchavadze’s image in different political and social contexts.