Where is the Solution in Case of Moral Degradation Acceording to Guram Dochanashvili's Novel "Boulder on Which Once there was a Church"

Abstract

"Boulder on Which Once there was a Church"expresses the moral degeneration and spiritual crisis of post-Soviet Georgia in the 90s, which is opposed by the eternal ideals and the phenomenon of faith reflected in art.

The novel presents an inner monologue of one person, unworthy (author alter ego). This reality is tragic, because the works depict people desperate for the brutality of the civil war, and the question "Where did it all begin" is constantly heard and repeated like the refrain "Where is salvation?"

In order to escape from the devaluation of spiritual values and to save the nation, according to this book, it is necessary to return to eternal values. Only a material welfare society is doomed to degeneration, and the only solution is to return to the Christian faith, which implies the establishment of moral ideals and moral purity.

One of the best parts of the novel is the postmodern texts created as a result of the use of artistic forms of Georgian oral tradition. The whole work is a combination of      tests of different genres: it is a peculiar collection of essays, notes and small novels or memoirs written about distinguished writers and musicians.

All of this is perceived as an attempt by a person in a tragic post-Soviet environment to escape the unacceptable, soul-destroying reality and find spiritual peace in the eternal realm of beauty and the Christian faith.