Giorgi Leonidze ( ka, გიორგი ლეონიძე) (27 December 1899 – 9 August 1966) was a

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

poet, prose writer, and literary scholar.

Biography

Leonidze was born in the village of

Patardzeuli Patardzeuli ( ka, პატარძეული), is a village in Eastern Georgia, in Sagarejo District, of Kakheti Region, located about 50 kilometers from Tbilisi, the capital. It was known in the past mainly because was the home-town of the G ...

in the eastern Georgian province of

Kakheti Kakheti ( ka, კახეთი ''K’akheti''; ) is a region (mkhare) formed in the 1990s in eastern Georgia from the historical province of Kakheti and the small, mountainous province of Tusheti. Telavi is its capital. The region comprises eigh ...

. He graduated from the Tbilisi Theological Seminary in 1918 and continued his studies at the

Tbilisi State University Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University ( ka, ივანე ჯავახიშვილის სახელობის თბილისის სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტი ''Ivane Javaxishvi ...

. His first poems appeared in Georgian press in 1911, and then, briefly collaborated with the

Symbolist Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...

group

Blue Horns Tsisperqantselebi ( ka, ცისფერყანწელები; The Blue Horns) was a group of Georgian Symbolist poets and prose-writers which dominated the Georgian literature in the 1920s. It was founded as a coterie of young talented wri ...

. His real talent emerged in 1925 with a series of nature lyrics, responding with Romantic animation to the landscapes of Leonidze’s native Kakheti. Throughout the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

period, he tried to pursue the "correct" political line; his poetry became more historical and patriotic, the eventful history of Georgia providing him with the colorful medieval imagery which Leonidze translated into impulsive rhythms and metaphors. He quickly established himself as one of the most popular poets of Georgia, but, when the

purges In history, religion and political science, a purge is a position removal or execution of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, another organization, their team leaders, or society as a whole. A group undertak ...

of the 1930s took lives of many of his fellow writers and his own brother, microbiologist Leon Leonidze, he was forced to direct his talents into panegyrics to

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

. This was an unfinished 1936 epic dedicated to Stalin’s childhood and youth, remarkable for its simulated verve and a total of absence of biographic details, factual or invented.

Rayfield, Donald Patrick Donald Rayfield OBE (born 12 February 1942, Oxford) is an English academic and Emeritus Professor of Russian and Georgian at Queen Mary University of London. He is an author of books about Russian and Georgian literature, and about Josep ...

(2000), '' The Literature of Georgia: A History'', p. 256.

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...

, . He also wrote scrupulous literary studies of earlier Georgian poets such as Besiki and

Baratashvili Baratashvili ( ka, ბარათაშვილი) is a Georgian noble family, appearing at the end of the 15th century as a continuation of the Kachibadze (ქაჩიბაძე), which were possibly related to the Liparitids-Orbeli. The ...

, and produced evocative prose based on his childhood memoirs and experiences – ''The Tree of Desire'' (ნატვრის ხე), which was filmed, in 1976, by

Tengiz Abuladze Tengiz Abuladze ( ka, თენგიზ აბულაძე; 31 January 1924 – 6 March 1994) was a Georgian film director, screenwriter, theatre teacher and People's Artist of the USSR. He is regarded as one of the best Soviet directors. ...

as the second part of his famous trilogy. In his later years, Leonidze directed his wealth to the benefit of his native village and presided over the Institute of Georgian Literature at the

Georgian Academy of Sciences The Georgian National Academy of Sciences (GNAS) ( ka, საქართველოს მეცნიერებათა ეროვნული აკადემია, tr) is a main learned society of the Georgia. It was named Georgian S ...

from 1958 until his death in 1966. He is buried at the

Mtatsminda Pantheon The Mtatsminda Pantheon of Writers and Public Figures ( ka, მთაწმინდის მწერალთა და საზოგადო მოღვაწეთა პანთეონი, ''mtats'mindis mts'eralta da sazogado mo ...

at Tbilisi.

References

*George L. Kavtaradze, Giorgi Leonidze (Biography

Accessed on November 19, 2007. *George L. Kavtaradze, Giorgi Leonidze and his Poetr

Accessed on October 6, 2010. {{DEFAULTSORT:Leonidze, Giorgi 1899 births 1966 deaths Male poets from Georgia (country) Writers from Georgia (country) Philologists from Georgia (country) Burials in Georgia (country) 20th-century poets from Georgia (country) Members of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences 20th-century male writers Place of death missing 20th-century philologists