Shalva Dadiani
Dadiani, Shalva Nikolaevich
Born May 9 (21). 1874, in Zestafoni; died Mar. 15, 1959. in Tbilisi. Soviet Georgian writer and man of the theater. People’s Artist of the Georgian SSR (1923). Member of the CPSU from 1945. Actor and director of Georgian theater from 1893 to 1923.
Dadiani first appeared in print as a poet (the collection of poems The Spark, 1892). In such plays as In the Cave (1905; published, 1910), When They Feasted (1907; published, 1912), Gegechkori (1915; published, 1923), and Yesterdays’ (1916), he depicted the life of the demoralized nobility and the revolutionary aspirations of the people and their faith in a bright future. Thirty-seven of his 50 plays were written during the Soviet era. Outstanding among these are Into the Very Heart (1928), the first example of satirical comedy in Soviet Georgian literature, Tetnul’d (1931). The Broken Bridge (1935), and Ninoshvili’s Guria (1932;Russian translation: Underground Rumble, 1940). The play From a Spark (1937;Russian translation, 1940) depicts the emergence of the first Bolshevik organizations in Georgia and the struggle of the Georgian people on the barricades of the first Russian revolution of 1905–07.
Dadiani is the author of the widely known historical novels lurii Bogoliubskii (1926)and The Gvirgviliani Family (1956), which portray the life of the people of Georgia and offer realistic characterizations of those who fought against the autocracy and local feudal lords. In these works the people are depicted as the creators of history. Dadiani was a deputy to the first and second convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. He was awarded the Order of Lenin and two other orders, as well as medals.
WORKS
Piesehi, vols. 1–2. Tiflis, 1923–34.Napercklidan: Piesa. Tbilisi. 1938.
[Nacerebis sruli krebuli,] vol. I. Tbilisi, 1939.
Giorgi rusi: Romani. Tbilisi, 1946.
Ch’emi marao. Tbilisi, 1948.
Mogonebani, sitqvebi da cerilebi. Tbilisi, 1948.
Rch’euli nacerebi, vol. 1.Tbilisi, 1950.
Gvirgvilianebis ojaxi: Romani. Tbilisi, 1960.
Rch’euli fxzulebani, vols. 1–5. Tbilisi, 1958–62.
Rac’ gamaxsenda. Mogonebani. Tbilisi, 1959.
In Russian translation:
P’esy. Moscow-Leningrad, 1940.
lurii Bogoliubskii. Tbilisi, 1951.
REFERENCES
Radiani, Sh. Shalva Dadiani. Tbilisi, 1958.Baramidze, A.. Sh. Radiani, and B. Zhgenti. Istoriia gruzinskoi literatury. Tbilisi, 1958.
Radiani, Sh. Meoc’e saukunis k’art’uli literatura. Tbilisi. 1959.
Jiblaze. G. Kritikuli etiudebi, book 1. Tbilisi. 1958.
C’ic’ishvili, G. Shalva Dadianis dramaturgia. Tbilisi. 1955.
Vart’agava. I. Shalva Dadianis c’xovreba da shemok’medeba. Tbilisi. 1962.