Gamsakhurdia Konstantine

Konstantine Gamsakhurdia [3 (15). V. 1891, Abasha – 17. VII. 1975, Tbilisi], writer. A full member of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences (1944). He was born into a wealthy noble family. After graduating from the Kutaisi Gymnasium for Nobles (1911), he was sent to St. Petersburg University. Still, he left it that same year and went to Germany to continue his studies. He studied at the University of Königsberg and later at the University of Leipzig. During these years, he traveled to Italy, briefly returned to Georgia, and in 1914 returned to Germany, where he began studying German philosophy and literature at the University of Munich. In 1918, during his holidays, he returned to Georgia and participated in the battle against Turkish troops at the Natanebi Front. That same year, he founded the journal “Promete” (Prometheus), which played a significant role in the development of Georgian artistic thought. In 1919, he returned to Berlin, graduated from the university with a Ph.D. in philosophy, and returned to his homeland. This marked the beginning of his active literary and social activities. Along with G. Tabidze and L. Khiacheli, he edited the literary journal “Lomisi”, and the newspaper “Kartuli Sitkva” (Georgian Word), and founded his own newspaper “Sakartvelos Samreklo” (Belltower of Georgia) and the journal Ilioni. In 1922, he became the head of the Academic Writers' Association.

Gamsakhurdia's first poems and critical essays were published in 1909 in Kutaisi. While living in Germany, expressionist worldviews had a strong influence on him. From this moment, his works expressed the ideas of the imminent renewal of the world (two sonnets "To Count Zeppelin", "To Emil Verharn", "Berlin", "Christ in Paris in 1919", "Maria Stella", "November Wind", and others). In 1924, Gamsakhurdia's first book was published – a collection of stories “Kvekana, Romelsac Vkhedav” (The Country I See); the novella “Mkvdartan Shekhvedra” (Meeting with the Dead) (1919) analyzes the problems related to alienation.

Gamsakhurdia's novel Dionysus' Smile (1914–24, published in 1925) was written partly to reflect dramatic political developments in Georgia of that time.

The trilogy The Abduction of the Moon (1936) is one of Gamsakhurdia's central works. The trilogy sharply addresses the problem of the incompatibility of individualism with new collectivist will and shows the full complexity of the formation of the new society.

His first historical-themed novel The Right Hand of Great Master Constantine was published in 1939. It is an artistically perfect work, where the author's main viewpoint is expansively expressed. The historical-cultural concept here is portrayed in the artistic images of the two main characters – King George I and Arsakidze, the architect of Svetitskhoveli Monastery.

In Gamsakhurdia's later works, historical romanticism holds the central place (the tetralogy Davit Aghmashenebeli and an unfinished historical novel Tamar). The first book of Davit Aghmashenebeli was published in 1942, and the last book in 1962 (received the Rustaveli State Prize in 1965). It is a grand-scale epic work depicting the most important historical events of the late 11th and early 12th centuries. It shows the close ties of 12th-century Georgia with the great states of that time and its visible role in politics.

In 1955, the novel “Vazis Kvaviloba” (The Blossoming of the Vine) was published, telling about the rural live in Georgia, the ancient Georgian culture, and the hardships related to the cultivation of vines. It systematically represents the pre-war, wartime, and post-war periods.

In 1932, in connection with Goethe's jubilee, Gamsakhurdia published The Novel of Goethe's Life, the first historical-biographical novel in the Georgian language.

In Gamsakhurdia's creative work, the Georgian artistic narrative reached its perfection. “Ukrainis Temidi is one of the brilliant works of the writer. He translated Dante's Divine Comedy (together with K. Chichinadze), Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther, Whitman's poems, and others into Georgian language.

Literary works: თხზულებანი, ტ. 10. [შემდგ: მანანა არჩვაძე გამსახურდია), თბ., 2005–2012 (შეიცავს რვა ტომს).

Literature: სიგუა ს., ქართული სული – ევროპული თვალთახედვით, თბ., 2013; სიგუა ს., კონსტანტინე გამსახურდია, პროზის სტრუქტურა, თბ., 1989; კიკაჩეიშვილი თ. კონსტანტინე გამსახურდიას „დიდოსტატის მარჯვენა“, თბ., 1997; გაგნიძე ზ., კონსტანტინე გამსახურდია და ეროვნული იდეოლოგია, თბ., 2001.

G. Kankava