If Great Dead Writers Were on Facebook - 3

I have started these series with the Russian writers and then thought why should I have all the fun alone (thanks to Raymond G. Taylor for the idea to turn this into an unofficial challenge!). So I'm opening it up for others who would like to see if they can bring dead writers into the modernity through their imagined Facebook or other social media posts.

Before I lay out the challenge conditions, though, I would like to present three more writers who represent different cultures that I have a strong connection to.

I am currently in Tbilisi, Georgia, where I am about to start a nine-month teaching assignment. So far, I've been enjoying time exploring the city. I walked around Tbilisi and saw a couple of monuments that prompted me to do this installment. We'll start with Shota Rustaveli.

1. Shota Rustaveli

Shota Rustaveli (შოთა რუსთაველი) is the national poet of Georgia and one of the most important medieval poets of the wider world. He lived in the late 12th - early 13th century, during the reign of Queen Tamar, Georgia’s most celebrated monarch and symbol of wise female power. Very little is known about Rustaveli's life with certainty, but tradition holds that he served at a high-ranking position in Queen Tamar’s court.

Rustaveli’s masterpiece is “ვეფხისტყაოსანი” (Vepkhistqaosani), usually translated as “The Knight in the Panther’s Skin” (or “The Man in the Tiger’s Skin,” which I'm more familiar with through my Soviet-era education). It is considered the crown jewel of Georgian literature and a national epic, comparable in cultural significance to The Divine Comedy in Italy, The Shahnameh in Persia or The Manas Kyrgyz epic in the post-Soviet space.

In the Man in the Tiger's Skin, two heroic friends - Avtandil (a noble knight of Arabia) and Tariel (the knight in the panther’s skin, prince of India) - set out on perilous adventures to help Tariel reunite with his beloved Nestan-Darejan, a princess imprisoned by enemies. Along the way, they are joined by another loyal knight, Pridon, and together they overcome battles, treachery, and trials of truly Biblical proportions. The poem celebrates ideal friendship, noble love, loyalty, and courage, while emphasizing that true honor lies in wisdom, generosity, and devotion. Here's how MAIK rendered the inspirational moment when Avtandil and Tariel are joined by Pridon:

To my dismay, I remember very little from the epic poem itself as it was a long time ago when I read excerpts of it as a part of my Soviet education. I definitely need to re-read it. Thankfully, there's an audio book in English on YouTube as well:

2. Taras Shevchenko

Shevchenko was a philosopher, poet, writer, artist, and is largely considered to be the father of the Ukrainian nation. On the day Ukraine celebrates its Flag Day and Independence Day, I was walking along Tbilisi streets and saw a monument to him sitting in its own memorial garden. Georgians are very empathetic with Ukrainians in their strive for independence and even though Shevchenko never visited Tbilisi, the monument is here, in one of the most important city streets, which is a big artery with multiple names that also hosts Georgian Parliament:

The monument and Ukrainian-Georgian anti-imperialist connection prompted me to ask MAIK to create the following FB post on behalf of Shevchenko, citing one of his most decisive calls to Ukrainians:

If you would like to get the feeling for Shevchenko's significance and relevance to today's war, here's a good video:

3. Chingiz Aitmatov

Of course I couldn't bypass the most significant writer from my home country of Kyrgyzstan, Chingiz Aitmatov. His long career was prolific and remarkable but because he died in 2008 and was not on Facebook, I thought he deserves the recognition in this series as well.

I've read almost everything he wrote, and I do agree with many literature experts and critics that Jamila is one of his best works. Set during the WW2 time, the novella explores the eternal themes of love, devotion, freedom, and cultural traditions. I don't want to give out the plot if you get inspired to read it, but here's the fake FB post depicting the narrator's gazing at Jamila and her new love leaving the village that rejected them:

I was not able to find the audio book in English, but I did find the Soviet movie in black and white that is faithful to the book and has pretty decent English subtitles (you may have to switch them in Settings):

I hope you've had fun with this installment.

Now, on to the challenge.

If you liked this game, please create a similar social media post for your favorite dead writer. Give us a little information about the writer and his/her significance and tell us how you created an AI prompt for the post.

Publish the post in the Critique community (it does not have a minimum word limit of 600 words) or as a microfiction story in Fiction, and drop the link here in the comments. I will give a small tip of $1-5 to the ten posts I like the most. It's very subjective, I know, and therefore very unofficial.

I'll keep this challenge open till Sept.10 (that's when my semester officially starts and I won't have as much time to spend on Vocal) and send out the tips shortly after.

Thanks for reading and participating!