Lordkipanidze, Niko

(Nikolai Merabovich Lord-kipanidze). Born Sept. 17 (29), 1880, in the village of Chuneshi, now Tskhaltubo Raion; died May 25, 1944, in Tbilisi. Soviet Georgian writer. Son of a mirovoi posrednik (mediator of the peace).

Lordkipanidze studied at the University of Kharkov, from which he was expelled for participating in student demonstrations in 1900 and 1902. He studied in Austria and Germany and graduated from the Mining Academy in Leoben, Austria, in 1907, returning that year to Georgia, where he became a teacher. From 1921 to 1924 he was chairman of the Union of Art Workers of Georgia.

Lordkipanidze began to publish in 1902. His works had deep social resonances. From his first stories Lordkipanidze proved himself a writer grappling with the basic problems of history and contemporary life. The short stories “Georgia for Sale” (1910), “The Dread Ruler” (1912), and “Knights” (1912) and the novella Evil Times (1914-19) exposed the morals of the bourgeoisie and the feudal aristocracy. The life of the decaying aristocracy was treated in the series of novellas Destroyed Nests (1916). His historical revolutionary novella From Footpaths to Rails (1928) reflected the Georgian people’s struggle for freedom. The novella Sculptor (1936) was optimistic and life-affirming. The Soviet people’s heroic struggle with the fascist invaders was the theme of the novellas The Unconquered (1943) and Return of the Former Captive (1944).

Lordkipanidze’s works are classics of Georgian literature and had a great influence on the development of Soviet Georgian literature and its language.