The novel follows the lifetime of the two male friends, their closeness and later disengagement. One day Tazo asks his friend (the narrator) to lend his apartment for athe lovers’ rendezvous. The narrator leaves the two in peace, wandering the streets of Tbilisi till dawn.
The two friends’ encounter explains the title of the novel—an old photograph of them standing next to the skeleton of the Southern Elephant. In another episode, the narrator remembers his archaeologist mother’s dying wish to be buried with a volcanic prehistoric weapon. Archaeology symbolizes the futile digging up of the past, a past that needs to be stripped away, to set the next generation free. As the narrator walks around his city, we witness a Joycean journey of observation and introspection. He is a Carrawayesque character, an observant spectator, while Tazo is like his Gatsby—bright, admirable, and fascinating, but absent, declining to join in.
The narrator’s relationships with the female characters of the story are an important part of his self-reflection. He cherishes these connections deeply, but fails in them, except for the relationship with his daughter. The narrator manages to set his daughter free of the weight of the generational trauma, the Southern Elephant, by encouraging her to discover her true self.