Konstantin Lordkipanidze

Born Dec. 25, 1904 (Jan. 7, 1905), in the village of Didi-Dzhikhaishi, now Samtredia Raion. Soviet Georgian writer. Son of a civil servant.

Lordkipanidze graduated from the Kutaisi Humanitarian Technicum in 1924. He participated in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45.

Lordkipanidze was editor in chief of the magazine Literaturnaia Gruziia (Literary Georgia; 1956-62) and Tsiskari (1962-66) and director of the Nakaduli Publishing House (from 1966). He began his literary career in 1924. Lordkipanidze’s first poetic works were imbued with enthusiasm for socialist reality—for example, the verse collection Selected Poetry (1926) and the narrative poem Sten’ka Razin (1927).

Lordkipanidze began writing prose in the 1920’s, as well: its main themes were the new hero, the new socialist relationships, the breakdown of old concepts, the heroism of the Soviet people, and active humanism. The great changes in the life of the Georgian village were described in the novel The Dawn of Kolkhida (1931-52). Immortality (1938; Russian translation, 1940), a cycle of short stories, depicted the struggle of the Byelorussian people during the Civil War of 1918-20. The heroism of the Soviet people during the Great Patriotic War was the theme of the story “The Unrusted Blade” (1949; revised edition, 1956) and of the cycle of “nonfiction stories” Death Will Wait a Bit Longer (1958; Sh. Rustaveli State Prize of the Georgian SSR, 1971). The novel The Magic Stone (parts 1-2, 1955-65) painted a broad canvas of Soviet Georgia. Contemporary ethical problems were central to such novellas as Fishermen of Ortachal (1969) and Long Live Don Quixote (1970). Lordkipanidze has also written the screenplays for Friendship (1941), Shadow on the Road (1957), and Interrupted Song (1960).

Lordnipanidze was a deputy to the eighth convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the Georgian SSR and has been awarded six orders and several medals.