Georgii Davidovich Eristavi

Born 1811, in the village of Odzisi, in what is now Dusheti Raion, Georgian SSR; died there Sept. 9 (21), 1864. Georgian writer, director, actor, and public figure.

Eristavi was the founder of critical realism in Georgian literature. He belonged to the progressive circles of the Georgian intelligentsia. Eristavi’s early poetry was characterized by romanticism, but he later turned to depictions of the everyday life and mores of his time. In his comedies, he employed biting satire to expose the declining dvoriantsvo (nobility), the royal officials, and the developing merchant bourgeoisie. Among his notable satirical comedies are The Partition (staged 1850), The Trial (1840, staged 1850), The Miser (staged 1851), The Madwoman (1862), and Pictures from an Old Time (1863).

The new realistic theater that Eristavi founded became a center for Georgian culture and professional realistic drama. He translated Russian and Western European classics. Eristavi was also the author of a prose translation into Polish of Sh. Rustaveli’s narrative poem The Man in the Panther’s Skin.