Author Rezo Cheishvili’s ‘Blue Mountains’ named in top 10 books by German-language publishers

Late Georgian author Rezo Cheishvili’s Soviet-era work Blue Mountains has been named in Hotlist 2018, a selection of the 10 best German-language titles printed by independent publishers this year.

The story, published in Georgia in 2013 and in Germany this year, was picked for the top 10 of the award that marks indie publishers’ contribution to the "richness, quality and success of German-language literary culture”.

Blue Mountains was initially selected for a shortlist of 30 works for the award earlier this year.

‘Blue Mountains’ is a widely recognised work by late author Rezo Cheishvili. Photo: hotlist-online.com.

An international team of judges then worked on the shortlist to pick seven titles for the top 10, while readers voted for the remaining three spots.

Cheishvili’s work is a classic in his homeland. Thanks to the art of translators Julia Dengg and Ekaterine Teti, it is now available in German for the first time”, said a summary from the award.

The story follows a young author looking to have his work published but the material getting lost in labyrinths of wasteful bureaucracy.

In Georgia, as the [book’s] epilogue reveals, the title is so popular that ‘blue mountains’ are a fixed idiom there for a particularly worn and absurd situation”, said a review by German-language literary blog schiefgelesen.net.

Seen as a satire on the Soviet authority, the plot served as the basis for a critically acclaimed feature film Blue Mountains, or Unbelievable Story, released during the late years of the USSR.

The selection of the German edition of Cheishvili’s work for the Hotlist coincides with activities for the promotion of Georgian literature in German-speaking countries this year.

Designed to augment Georgia’s preparations for the country’s representation at the upcoming Frankfurt Book Fair as the official Guest of Honour, the events have involved book and author presentations, readings of prose, and more.