Gaston Bouatchidzé ( ka, გასტონ ბუაჩიძე; 21 October 1935 – 13 July 2022) was a Georgian-French writer and translator. Bouatchidzé was born in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...

of a French mother and Georgian father who had lived in France for ten years before moving to the

Soviet Union 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, ...

in 1934. Bouatchidzé graduated from the

Lviv University The University of Lviv ( uk, Львівський університет, Lvivskyi universytet; pl, Uniwersytet Lwowski; german: Universität Lemberg, briefly known as the ''Theresianum'' in the early 19th century), presently the Ivan Franko Na ...

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...

, in 1958 and specialized in the

French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to inclu ...

. He was a professor of French literature at the

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

from 1960 to 1990, and an associate professor of comparative literary studies at the

University of Nantes The University of Nantes (french: Université de Nantes) is a public university located in the city of Nantes, France. In addition to the several campuses scattered in the city of Nantes, there are two satellite campuses located in Saint-Nazaire ...

from 1991 to 2001. He has translated several pieces of Georgian literature into French, and vice versa. A principal subject of his research is the history of Franco-Georgian literary contacts. He was instrumental in forging sisterly ties between the cities of Nantes and Tbilisi, and in organizing the exhibition of the Georgian painter Pirosmani at the Nantes Museum of Fine Arts in 1999.Visitors From The Sister City.
Tbilisi Municipality Portal. 19 April 2008

References

External links

– Gaston Bouatchidzé’s translation of ''

The Knight in the Panther's Skin ''The Knight in the Panther's Skin'' ( ka, ვეფხისტყაოსანი, tr literally "the one with the skin of a tiger") is a Georgian medieval epic poem, written in the 12th or 13th century by Georgia's national poet Shota Rus ...

'' by

Shota Rustaveli Shota Rustaveli ( ka, შოთა რუსთაველი, c. 1160 – after c. 1220), Mononymous person, mononymously known simply as Rustaveli, was a medieval Georgia (country), Georgian poet. He is considered to be the pre-eminent poet of ...

1935 births 2022 deaths University of Lviv alumni Writers from Tbilisi Translators from Georgia (country) Translators from Georgian Translators to French French people of Georgian descent Tbilisi State University alumni Academic staff of the University of Nantes Georgian people of French descent {{Georgia-translator-stub