White Lama
2016 Longlist

White Lama

Translated from the Georgian by Natia Badriashvili
artwork-image

ABOUT
THE BOOK

White Lama takes us into a world of mediums, ancient civilizations and secret knowledge to explore universal themes: good versus evil, how history has been shaped by the choice of individuals and how the world of today is struggling to regain the glories of the past.

This is the story of two mediums, one good and one evil, whose adventurous lives interact at unexpected points as they pursue their contradictory aims. The novel takes us through thousands of years of history, and places such as Sumeria, Atlantis, China, Tibet, Egypt, Argentina, India, Germany, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and contemporary Georgia, and shows us the lives of people young and old, in seemingly very different worlds, and the hidden and entirely unexpected ways they are connected. The novel shows the effect the two protagonists had on history and those around them and how moral values, or lack of them, are central to the world we live in today.

ABOUT
THE AUTHOR Merab
Ratishvili

Merab Ratishvili began his literary activity in prison. He released three novels which have become bestsellers. His areas of interest include ancient history, politics and literature. In 2007 he was sentenced to imprisonment for 9 years for being an active supporter of political opposition to the President of Georgia. He was released in 2013 on the basis of a political amnesty after the Parliament of Georgia officially recognized him as a political prisoner. Merab Ratishvili has been nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature by The Union of Literatures of the Russian Federation.

Merab Ratishvili began his literary activity in prison. He released three novels which have become bestsellers. His areas of interest include ancient history, politics and literature. In 2007 he was sentenced to imprisonment for 9 years for being an active supporter of political opposition to the President of Georgia. He was released in 2013 on the basis of a political amnesty after the Parliament of Georgia officially recognized him as a political prisoner. Merab Ratishvili has been nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature by The Union of Literatures of the Russian Federation.

ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Natia
Badriashvili

NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS

The novel combines the concerns of the twientieth and twenty-first centuries with timeless values of the mystical world to create a heightened reality which gives meaning to our troubled times. White Lama is a multi-layered work with innumerable points of interest and a plot which engages all types of reader. Those who immerse themselves in it quickly realize that the novel is about us, here and now, as much as the historical, political and spiritual events depicted. It is a work which lends itself to repeated re-reading, as it presents entertaining and informative analogues with everything we see today.

“If you desire to experence and travel in the mystical universe of real life with high skilled mediums as Giorgi Liqokeli and also want to learn the worlds most interesting historical and archaelogical events of 20th century, then the Novel “White Lama” by Merab Ratishvili, a Kartvelian writer – is your book #1. For me “White Lama” is one of the worlds greatest inspirational and spiritual novel of human`s brain in the historical and enlighten adventure of life. A MUST READ BOOK, especially for Filmmakers !”
Nikoloz Khomasuridze – Film Director / Producer / Writer

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Date published
01/01/2016
Country
Georgia
Original Language
Georgian
Publisher
Kaligrami
Translator
Natia Badriashvili
Translation
Translated from the Georgian by Natia Badriashvili

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