THE BOOK OF IMPRESSIONS

Alexandre Dumas
Adventures in the Caucasus
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A PUBLICATION OF TBILISI MARRIOTT HOTEL & COURTYARD BY MARRIOTT TBILISI

THE BOOK OF IMPRESSIONS

lexandre Dumas, pre (father) (1802-1870) was

not only a productive novelist and playwright,
but also a curious traveller. The Travel
Impressions book he has written about his
journey to the Caucasus is noteworthy, and
in order to better understand its meaning,
one should take into account its qualities and
inaccuracies.

Dumas visited numerous countries throughout

his lifetime, and not only because of his desire to travel.
Dumas was popular for his unrestrained lifestyle and
enormous debts in Paris. It is actually to escape from his
creditors that he started to travel around the world. His visit to
Georgia took place in the 1950s. The Georgia of that period
turned out to be a real discovery for the novelist, who was
fond of new impressions, contrasts and different cultures. He
was fascinated by the country, its nature and its inhabitants.
Dumas arrived to Georgia at the end of 1858, when serfdom
had not yet been abolished and the Caucasian war was in
its final stage. The social, political and military-bureaucratic
atmospheres of the period are slightly described in Dumas
book. While reading about his journey from Tbilisi to Poti,
the reader has the opportunity to get acquainted with the life
that existed in Georgian provinces before the reform, with
interesting ethnographic details, impassable roads, and so
on. But the writer does not study the everyday life of common
people in detail; he is more attracted to everything that seems
unusual, sometimes weird or exotic. Alexander Dumas is a
romanticist and belletrist, for whom something exceptional is
more interesting than the ordinary and the typical.

instead of ornaments, the curtain was beautifully adorned,

and the stage itself looked more like a fairy palace, and not
because of its expensive decorations, but for its sophisticated
tasteI thought I was at the theatre of Pompey.
Alexander Dumas writes about Georgians with special
interest, and thinks that it is important to study this nation
better: I am not saying a word about the Georgians, whom
you cannot see anywhere away from their country. They are
so wonderful, noble, honest, brave, and generous, that a
separate research should be made on them.
Dumas was fascinated with the appearance of Georgian men.
He tells about the Imeretians, Gurians, and Megrelians:
Europeans cannot even imagine the beauty of the Colchian
people. Men especially have particularly beautiful bodies
and walking manner. Even an ordinary servant looks like a
nobleman.
The novelist pictures Georgian feasts and traditions with great
interest. He writes about the tamadas (feast leaders) and
Georgian songs, as he is fond of exaggeration, he overstates
the Georgians love of wine: Common drinkers usually have
five or six bottles of wine at the feast, better drinkers can cope
with 12-15 bottles, but there are some who drink not from
bottles, but from special skin vessels, and they can drink as
much as 20-25 bottles in one session. So, average Georgians
drink about 15 bottles of wine. During one of his

In general, Dumas, as a belletrist, used to mold the story

in his own manner. The frame in which he would place a
story was an interesting scene, overstated and exaggerated,
with fascinating narration dynamics. The same virtues and
inconveniences are characteristic to Dumas as a traveler and
memoir writer.
Dumas records about Tbilisi are really interesting. Everything
that attracts the novelists attention comes to life in his light
and smart narration. His description of a ball-masquerade
at the house of Bariatinski, who was a vice regent in the
Caucasus, is fascinating. The writer cannot hide his surprise
at the education, good manners and European style of the
high society. He speaks with admiration about the beauty
of Georgian women, and remarks that the ladies of Tbilisi
managed to follow the fashion of the Italian theatre or the
Gandhi Boulevard in a delay of just a fortnight. He describes
the streets of Tbilisi and its exotic bazaar with great interest,
but in the end, he adds with regret that because of the mud
and the untidiness, it is impossible to return home clean after
walking in these beautiful streets.
Dumas was fascinated by the Georgian theatre hall, which
was not luxurious, but rather modest and decorated with good
taste. The balconies were decorated with Arabic carvings

A PUBLICATION OF TBILISI MARRIOTT HOTEL & COURTYARD BY MARRIOTT TBILISI

65

THE BOOK OF IMPRESSIONS

visits to a Georgian family, the writer managed to show his

abilities in similar extreme circumstances, and passed the
Georgian feast exam with dignity. At the end of the party, the
writer was awarded a special note with the signatures of the
people who were feasting with him, notifying that he drank
more wine than the Georgians.
There is one particular subject that is approached very
seriously by the writer the culinary, of which Dumas is a
professional. He speaks about Georgian dishes and wines
with the knowledge and talent of a chef, and describes
different traditional dishes, including grilled meat (mtsvadi).
A big part of Dumas travel book is dedicated to the socalled Caucasian war, the notes about Shamil, his family,
and Haji-Murat. Dumas knows the place where Haji-Murat
was killed. There is no doubt that his decapitated head
was brought to Tbilisi. I have an image of it, copied from the
natural head. tells Dumas. Haji-Murats head was actually
exhibited in Tbilisi, and a photograph was taken, but by the
artist Koradin, and not by Dumas.

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The best pages in Caucasus are those that show

the novelists personal observations. For instance, his
impressions on Caucasian and especially Georgian nature
and landscapes are magnificently described. He gives
a superb description of the Karanai mountain range in
Dagestan. Those who have been there could confirm that
Dumas model represents a awless copy of the place.
Dumas also presents an impressive description of his
journey from Tbilisi to Pasanauri during a snowstorm.
These places are the best examples of Dumas landscape
rendering.
Dumas Caucasus is read with great interest. We can
suppose that many Europeans visited Georgia after reading
this piece of work, in order to see with their own eyes the
things and places which the lover of strong effects, the
author of The Three Musketeers had offered to his readers
with his light and interesting narration, and sometimes with
an overstated interpretation of facts and exaggerations
characteristic to his style.

A PUBLICATION OF TBILISI MARRIOTT HOTEL & COURTYARD BY MARRIOTT TBILISI