Kolau Nadiradze ( ka, კოლაუ ნადირაძე) (24 February 1895 – 28 October 1990) 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 and the last representative of Georgian Symbolist school. Born in

Kutaisi Kutaisi (, ka, ქუთაისი ) is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and the third-most populous city in Georgia, traditionally, second in importance, after the capital city of Tbilisi. Situated west of Tbilis ...

, Georgia (then part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

), Nadiradze studied law at the

University of Moscow M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

from 1912 to 1916. Upon his return to Georgia, he became a founding member of the Georgian Symbolist group ''Tsisperqantselebi'' ( ka, ცისფერყანწელები) or '

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 ...

' in 1915, with fellow writers

Grigol Robakidze Grigol Robakidze () (October 28, 1880, Sviri (West Georgia) – November 19, 1962, Geneva) was a Georgian writer, publicist, and public figure primarily known for his prose and anti-Soviet émigré activities. Biography He was born on October ...

Titsian Tabidze Titsian Tabidze ( ka, ტიციან ტაბიძე, simply referred to as Titsiani; ka, ტიციანი) (16 December 1937), was a Georgian poet and one of the leaders of the Georgian symbolist movement. He fell victim to Joseph ...

Paolo Iashvili Paolo Iashvili ( ka, პაოლო იაშვილი; 29 June 1894 – 22 July 1937) was a Georgian poet and one of the leaders of Georgian symbolist movement. Under the Soviet Union, his obligatory conformism and the loss of his friends at ...

and

Valerian Gaprindashvili Valerian Gaprindashvili ( ka, ვალერიან გაფრინდაშვილი) (December 21, 1888 – January 31, 1941) was a Georgian poet and translator whose early, Symbolist, poetry was of much influence on development of Ge ...

, amongst others. Nadiradze quickly came under the influence of modernism, particularly

Emile Verhaeren Emil or Emile may refer to: Literature *'' Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau * ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life *'' Emil and the Detecti ...

, and emerged as one of the leading figures within the

group. His early Symbolist poetry was marked by a mystic aesthete with a notably critical and hopeless vision of pre-independence Georgia. His first poem published by the Blue Horn Journal, ''Dreaming of Georgia'' (ოცნება საქართველოზე), 1916, for instance, described a withered Georgian landscape of decrepit homes and crumbling ruins. Prior to Georgia's brief independence (1918-1921) Nadiraze described the country as an 'idiot homeland, with a thankless task/ Aged, oppressed and tortured' In 1921, the Red Army invaded Georgia and established a Soviet state. Since Nadiradze's earlier writings were not overtly political, he was able to adapt to the Communist ideological requirements more easily than others of the Blue Horn group, and continued to produce poetry. Under the Soviet Union, Nadiradze chiefly wrote patriotic poetry and prose, with a focus on realism and social issues. He also made numerous translations of literary works, including

Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...

Bunin Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin ( or ; rus, Ива́н Алексе́евич Бу́нин, p=ɪˈvan ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ ˈbunʲɪn, a=Ivan Alyeksyeyevich Bunin.ru.vorb.oga; – 8 November 1953) was the first Russian writer awarded the ...

, Bal'mont,

Blok Blok may refer to: *Blok (surname) *Blok (comics), the fictional superhero of the DC Comics universe *Blok M, downtown shopping area in Jakarta, Indonesia *Mega Bloks, plastic building blocks produced by Mega Bloks, Incorporated *The Vlaams Blok (D ...

Verlaine Verlaine (; wa, Verlinne) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On January 1, 2006, Verlaine had a total population of 3,507. The total area is 24.21 km2 which gives a population density Population d ...

and

Isahakyan Isahakyan ( hy, Իսահակյան) is a village in the Shirak Province of Armenia. It was formerly named after ''Ghazar Agha'' who organized the defense of the town against the Persians in 1826–1828; later named after poet Avetik Isahakyan Av ...

. Despite Nadiradze adherence to the regime, he was arrested along with the fellow symbolist writer

Sergo Kldiashvili Sergo Kldiashvili ( ka, სერგო კლდიაშვილი) (18 October 1893 – 1986) was a Georgian and Soviet prose-writer who set out to be Symbolist but then was drawn to conformist Realist prose under Soviet rule. He was the son ...

in the

purge 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 1937, although both poets escaped imprisonment when their

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

interrogator was himself arrested and their files mislaid. The incident caused Nadiradze to distance himself further from old writers of the Blue Horn group, and he would be the last surviving member. In the

perestroika ''Perestroika'' (; russian: links=no, перестройка, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated wit ...

years, already in his nineties, Nadiradze was able to publish his suppressed works from his early twenties, notably ''25 February'' (25 თებერვალი) a short reaction to the Bolshevik takeover in 1921.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nadiradze, Kolau 1895 births 1990 deaths Burials at Didube Pantheon Male poets from Georgia (country) People from Kutaisi 20th-century poets from Georgia (country) 20th-century male writers Soviet poets

See also

References