Irakli Abashidze
Irakli Abashidze | |
---|---|
Born | 10 September 1909 Khoni, Kutais Governorate, Russian Empire |
Died | 14 January 1992 Tbilisi |
Nationality | Georgian |
Alma mater | Tbilisi State University |
Occupation(s) | Poet, Literary scholar, Politician |
Office | Chairman of the Union of Georgian Writers |
Irakli Abashidze (Georgian: ირაკლი აბაშიძე) (10 September 1909 – 14 January 1992) was a Georgian poet, literary scholar and politician.
Abashidze was born in
In 1970, he also became a vice-president of the Georgian Academy of Sciences. In 1960 he organized an expedition to the Georgian-built Monastery of the Cross at Jerusalem where his team rediscovered a fresco of Shota Rustaveli, a medieval Georgian poet. He chaired the special academic commission for the Rustaveli studies since 1963 and became the founder and an editor-in-chief of The Georgian Soviet Encyclopedia in 1967.
His poems are viewed as classical works of Georgian literature. His poetry was mostly patriotic based on Georgian cultural and religious values, but normally loyal to Soviet ideology. He welcomed Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika and supported the Soviet-era dissident Zviad Gamsakhurdia when he came to power and led Georgia to the declaration of independence in 1991. Abashidze died in Tbilisi in 1992 and was afforded a state funeral. He was 82.[1]
References
- Mikaberidze, Alexander (ed., 2007), Abashidze, Irakli. Dictionary of Georgian National Biography. Accessed on September 5, 2007.
- ISBN 0-415-13898-1.