Guram Odisharia - Az elnök macskája

Translation by ILONA ERDEI
A bygone fairy-tale world comes to life in the pages of the book through the figure of a legendary figure, Mihail Bgazba, who was the first secretary of Abkhazia during Khrushchev's time, and was also a scientist biologist and geneticist. The book can even be considered a contemporary print, as it features the figures of Khrushchev and Fidel, the Caribbean crisis, but it can also be seen as a collection of anecdotes, from which we can learn about Bgazsba's unique outlook on life and humor, and at the same time as a collection of toasts, since drinking wine and the related events have a central place in the Caucasian tradition. frivolous, where for philosophical toasts. It is also a gastronomic guide, from which the reader can learn about the masterpieces of Caucasian cuisine: elardzi and saciv, hacsapuri and goat's goat cooked in milk, gebzalia and belly soup - not to mention the wines. In addition, we can get to know the mountains, rivers, fauna and flora of Abkhazia from it - one almost feels like visiting them immediately. However, the book also shows how the war shatters this fragile, idyllic world: "...no one understood how the war crept into the city, how it roared and began to rumble... There were, who didn't even understand years later why this war broke out..."
GURAM ODISHARIA was born in Sukhumi in 1951. After graduating from the Sukhum Pedagogical College, he worked as a journalist in Abkhazia, as the editor-in-chief of the literary journal Rica. Between 2012 and 2014, he was the Minister of Culture of Georgia. Prose writer, author of more than twenty books, which have been translated into many languages ​​of the world. Winner of several literary awards.