Is Kurban Said the genuine author of 'Ali and Nino'?
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What is 'Ali and Nino' according to other sources?
Ali and Nino – Literary Robbery! is a book of literary criticism written by author, researcher and professor of Georgian language and literature by Tamar Injia. The work presents a comparative analysis of discussions, descriptions, relationships, opinions and plot structure of two novels: Ali and Nino: A Love Story by Kurban Said (published in 1937, in Austria), and The Snake's Skin (Das Schlangenhemd) by Grigol Robakidze (published in 1928, in Germany). By comparing passages from both novels (35 comprehensive extracts), the author argues that quotes from Ali and Nino: A Love Story have been copied from The Snake’s Skin. Additionally, by analyzing the literary parallels in both novels, the author shows “side-by-side” similarities in content, namely repeated stories, myths, legends, characters and plot structures. Professor Injia concludes that Kurban Said’s Ali and Nino: A Love Story is extensively plagiarized from, and owes much of its existence to Grigol Robakidze’s The Snake’s Skin.
In her research, Tamar Injia refers to Kurban Said as "the one responsible for the theft, equating him, as it is popularly done, with Essad Bey” and states: “It is difficult to say exactly when Kurban Said decided to copy Grigol Robakidze’s The Snake’s Skin into his novel Ali and Nino: after the publication of The Snake’s Skin (1928)[1], after his interview with Grigol Robakidze (1931)[2] or after Grigol Robakidze was nominated for the Nobel Prize (1933). However, it is obvious that this idea of literary robbery was developed at some time from 1928 through 1937, and was fulfilled in 1937, when the novel Ali and Nino was published in Vienna, Austria[3].
Professor Injia’s research findings were first published in a series of articles in the Georgian newspaper Our Literature (2003)[4][5] and later printed as books Grigol Robakidze… Kurban Said – Literary Robbery (2005) in Georgian[6] and Ali and Nino – Literary Robbery! (2009) in English[3]. The findings of professor Injia were supported and shared by the representatives from various literary circles, scholars and researchers from Georgia and the US: Gia Papuashvili – documentary movie producer and philologist[7]; Levan Begadze – German linguist, Georgian literary critic and philologist[8]; Zaza Alexidze – discoverer and decipherer of the Caucasian Albanian written script; Betty Blair – researcher of authorship of Ali and Nino: A Love Story and founding editor of magazine Azerbaijan International[9].
The following four pictures are just two examples that demonstrate the extend of plagiarism of the text of Robakidze's work. The pictures on the left hand side show citations from Robakidze's The Snake Skin and the ones on the right hand side show citations from Kurban Said's Ali and Nino. The editions of the German versions of the books used for comparison are Grigol Robakidze's Das Schlangenhemd (Ein Roman des georgischen Volkes), Eugen Diederichs Verlag Jena, 1944 and Kurban Said's Ali und Nino (Roman), List Taschenbuch, 2010.
In her research, Tamar Injia refers to Kurban Said as "the one responsible for the theft, equating him, as it is popularly done, with Essad Bey” and states: “It is difficult to say exactly when Kurban Said decided to copy Grigol Robakidze’s The Snake’s Skin into his novel Ali and Nino: after the publication of The Snake’s Skin (1928)[1], after his interview with Grigol Robakidze (1931)[2] or after Grigol Robakidze was nominated for the Nobel Prize (1933). However, it is obvious that this idea of literary robbery was developed at some time from 1928 through 1937, and was fulfilled in 1937, when the novel Ali and Nino was published in Vienna, Austria[3].
Professor Injia’s research findings were first published in a series of articles in the Georgian newspaper Our Literature (2003)[4][5] and later printed as books Grigol Robakidze… Kurban Said – Literary Robbery (2005) in Georgian[6] and Ali and Nino – Literary Robbery! (2009) in English[3]. The findings of professor Injia were supported and shared by the representatives from various literary circles, scholars and researchers from Georgia and the US: Gia Papuashvili – documentary movie producer and philologist[7]; Levan Begadze – German linguist, Georgian literary critic and philologist[8]; Zaza Alexidze – discoverer and decipherer of the Caucasian Albanian written script; Betty Blair – researcher of authorship of Ali and Nino: A Love Story and founding editor of magazine Azerbaijan International[9].
The following four pictures are just two examples that demonstrate the extend of plagiarism of the text of Robakidze's work. The pictures on the left hand side show citations from Robakidze's The Snake Skin and the ones on the right hand side show citations from Kurban Said's Ali and Nino. The editions of the German versions of the books used for comparison are Grigol Robakidze's Das Schlangenhemd (Ein Roman des georgischen Volkes), Eugen Diederichs Verlag Jena, 1944 and Kurban Said's Ali und Nino (Roman), List Taschenbuch, 2010.
What was done?
We have assisted professor Injia in the translation and the edition of English version of her book 'Ali and Nino - Literary Robbery!' as well as published its first edition in 2009. We have also marketed and promoted this book to the scholars and interested parties worldwide and are happy to announce that the book Ali and Nino - Literary Robbery! got attention of such academic communities and universities as University of California, Stanford University, University of Wisconsin, Columbia University, etc.
Currently we are working on publication of the second edition of the book 'Ali and Nino - Literary Robbery!' where the readers will find added quotations in German - original language of both works - Grigol Robakidze's The Snake's Skin and Kurban Said's Ali and Nino.
Currently we are working on publication of the second edition of the book 'Ali and Nino - Literary Robbery!' where the readers will find added quotations in German - original language of both works - Grigol Robakidze's The Snake's Skin and Kurban Said's Ali and Nino.