Konrad and Alexandra (PDF) - Rolf Gross

Tamunia. You know that I have the highest regards for George’s business acumen."She had never seen her otherwise gentle, sensitive uncle so bitter. Finally, she thought, I discover the deeper reasons forthe smoldering resentments between my two families.David gave her a smile. "Tell me about yourself and Konrad. I hear you fled St. Petersburg with only what you couldcarry. I can imagine that the social and political situation in Russia has, under the pressures of this disastrous war,become dangerously chaotic. Have you found suitable work in Tbilisi?"She was touched and felt encouraged; here was someone who seemed to have an idea of what they had been through.She described their life during the past few years and their march across the mountains. She told him of the excellentjobs they had found. Finally she confessed that the reason for her coming was the hope that he would explain to her theconfusing situation and the future of Georgia. "If one comes from St. Petersburg, Tbilisi appears like a tiny paradisicalisland in a sea of collapsing empires. This illusion cannot last. What then? That is why I asked you about your views onthe land reform, not guessing what abyss was waiting for me."David looked past her and did not answer for a while. She followed his eyes and saw the portraits of her ancestors on theback wall of the room.He lowered his gaze. "Yes, they will destroy the Georgia your ancestors built. The old landowning families will disappearto make room for a new order. Your wedding was the last traditional celebration in this valley, even Konrad looked like aspecter from the last century. He reminded me of ill-fated Griboyedov marrying Tamara Chavchavadze eighty yearsearlier."He smiled. "You did well to marry this man. And even better was your decision to study medicine, when this was barelyconceivable for a woman from an aristocratic Georgian family. You made the jump into a bourgeois life whether youknew it at the time or not. I admire Irakli for giving you that freedom. I would not have had his courage and foresight hadyou been my daughter."He paused and took a sip from his glass. "Dear Alexandra, I am no prophet. I am not even cut out to play Cassandra. ButI fear that for a while our lives are going to get much worse. Maybe a responsible Georgian bourgeoisie will grow up. Yousee, until now, the Armenians were the bourgeois middle class. The Georgians were either princes or peasants. Oursociety was feudal in the best sense until the end of last century. Ilia was one of the first Georgian hommes bourgeoises.And that, not his politics, was the deeper reason why I was so often at loggerheads with him."He crossed himself. "May he rest in peace."David sank into silence for a while and sighed. "I am no friend of the Socialists. They will be the new order. I distrust andoften despise them, not because they want to destroy the old aristocracy, but because they are upstarts who have nounderstanding of our culture."Alexandra sympathized with her uncle, but she felt she was part of the new generation, and she did love Georgia asmuch as he did. "I may not feel the weight of my ancestors on my shoulders as you do. When I married Konrad myconcern was to find a bridge between East and West, to free myself of my Oriental heritage as a woman as much as anindividual—without losing my Georgian traditions. For years I fought to be aware of and be responsible for my ownactions. To learn this took twenty years of ‘exile.’"David looked at her with tired skepticism. She blushed and continued, "When I was young and naïve I hoped to comeback and teach Georgian women how to free themselves from their limitations. Now I see that it is the women who upholdthe old order. The Georgian women are not in the least interested in taking responsibility for their own actions, lestthey disturb their lazy, ignorant men in the sleep they provide for them."Startled, David gave a hollow laugh. "You mean you pursue a program to radicalize Georgian women?"Alexandra became alarmed, but continued. "No, not a program. Attempts at revolutionizing Georgian women I will gladlyleave to Tamara Dadeshkeliani and her Socialist friends. But I feel all they will accomplish is to replace one straightjacketwith another. If you understand me right, one belief system with an other: Instead of God, the Church, and the Emperor,Marx, Lenin, and Trotsky will dispense salvation!"David admitted that he did not understand. "Man has to believe in some higher being, in some system which acts as thefinal arbiter for his ethics. You are right, the Socialists would like to replace our Christian religion with a secular one. I findthis very dangerous, one should never allow any man to determine what is right and wrong."Alexandra became aware that she had overextended herself. She had steered the conversation into an area which shehad not sufficiently explored herself. If only Konrad were here, his presence would give her the courage to continue herargument. David did not seem to understand what she was wanting to say.She decided to try again to formulate her fundamental concern. "I do not want to abolish religion, but I would like to makeevery person responsible for his or her actions with respect to society as well as religion, instead of following longestablishedor new rules and prescriptions blindly. Maybe I do see the church as a human institution like any other, full oferrors and open to being challenged. I certainly agree with you in that I seriously question the ‘moral’ values promoted bypoliticians, philosophers, and charlatans. But I allow myself the same critical right against religious values."David straightened and stared at her distastefully. "Isn’t that Western intellectual humanism?"Alexandra lost her verve. She felt driven into a corner. "If you want to give my conviction a philosophical label you could204