Love Stories: Language, Private Love, and Public Romance in Georgia - Teaching Culture: UTP Ethnographies for the Classroom

Commendation Quotes: Paul Manning's splendid account exemplifies the best of social science description and analysis. He takes us along on a captivating journey through the stages of poetically ritualized romance and coupling, revealing much about Georgian history and culture along the way. Beyond introducing us to the Khevsur people and disrupting simplistic thinking about romance and desire, the book masterfully gives life to some core ideas in anthropology, sociology, and linguistics. - Laura Miller, University of Missouri-St. LouisCommendation Quotes: This story opens up questions not only about sex, romance, language, politics, and history, but also about what we know and how we come to know it. It's the kind of book instructors are always on the lookout for: a sophisticated treatment of a complex subject, which is also a compelling read. - Deborah Cameron, University of OxfordCommendation Quotes: Take a walk on the mild side, with some crazy twists. Love Stories is about how bossy matchmakers, stolen vodka, poetic jousting, and careful unbuttonings on narrow beds add up to a romantic relationship that is the opposite of sex and the opposite of marriage. Unexpected, compelling, unsettling, and fun. - Don Kulick, University of ChicagoTable of Contents: List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction: Setting the Stage for Romance A Brief Introduction to Khevsur Love Well, Did They, or Didn't They? Georgian Stereotypes about Khevsurs and "the Romance of the Mountains" Language and Desire: Genres and Practices The Khevsurs in History Plan of the Book 1. THE AMBASSADOR The Elchi as Mediator Autonomy, Persuasion, and Desire The Elchi at Work: A Girl's First Night of Sts'orproba Conversation 1: The Elchi and the Girl Conversation 2: The Elchi and the Boy Conversation 3: The Elchi and the Mother 2. SPENDING THE NIGHT TOGETHER Lying Down and Getting Up: Sociable Talk and Sociable Sexuality Intimate Contact: Prohibition and Transgression Boundary: Sex Boundary: Marriage Sociability and Obligation The Role of Different Genres 3. GOING STEADY The Social Life of Vodka Going with Vodka Visiting Vodka Road Vodka The Sexual Life of Vodka Stealing Vodka Saving and Hiding Vodka Drinking Vodka From Casual to Durable Sexual Relations: Sts'orperis and Dzmobilis The Dzmobili Relationship and Its Rivals Night and Day Creating and Maintaining Durable Relationships over Time Creating the Relationship: Oaths and Hints Maintaining the Relationship: Waiting and Exchange 4. INVISIBLE LOVE POETRY The Invisibility of Khevsur Love Poetry: The Absence of the Lyric Mode Articulating Desire in Pshavian Lyric The Erasure of Desire in Khevsur Love Poetry Anonymity: Erasure of the Author of Love Poetry Replacing Individual Desire with Desirability in Praise Poetry 5. DEMONS, DANGER, AND DESIRE: THE "ARAGVIAN" SEXUAL REVOLUTION Scandal Narratives Russian Marriage The Aragvian Way of Love Khevsur Girls' Love Stories: Three Case Studies Mariemi's Story Nanuk'i's Story Ashekali's Story 6. INTELLIGENTSIA AND PEOPLE: A LOVE STORY Genres of Realism and Romance The Story of Natela: A Khevsur Romance of the Nineteenth Century The Story of Natela: A Native Ethnographer of the Twentieth Century 7. ECHOES OF LOVE LOST: SOCIALIST NOVELS AND FILMS Socialist Ethnographies Modernist Novels Socialist Films Modernity and Tradition: Frame Narrative and Framed Narrative Romance, Poetry, and Violence Echoes of Sts'orproba Conclusion: Virtual Romance From Film to Image: Khevsurs in Late-Socialist Art Virtual Romance on Georgian Teen Forums Glossary References IndexPublisher Marketing: In the remote highlands of the country of Georgia, a small group of mountaindwellers called the Khevsurs used to express sexuality and romance in ways that appear to be highly paradoxical. On the one hand, their practices were romantic, but could never lead to marriage. On the other hand, they were sexual, but didn't correspond to what North Americans, or most Georgians, would have called sex. These practices were well documented by early ethnographers before they disappeared completely by the midtwentieth century, and have become a Georgian obsession. In this fascinating book, Manning recreates the story of how these private, secretive practices became a matter of national interest, concern, and fantasy. Looking at personal expressions of love and the circulation of these narratives at the broader public level of the modern nation, Love Stories offers an ethnography of language and desire that doubles as an introduction to key linguistic genres and to the interplay of language and culture.

Contributor Bio:  Manning, Paul Paul manning is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at De Monfort University