Ameridzhibi goes to his ancestors

Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza

Georgia said goodbye to a classic of its literature. Chabua Amiredzhibi was buried in Mtatsmindi, the pantheon of prominent social activists, poets, and writers. The graves of Alexander Griboedov and Josef Stalin’s mother, Keke, are also here.

After every high-profile funeral, the administration of the pantheon states that this funeral was the last, because there is no space in the graveyard anymore; the pantheon is closed forever. But the sad irony is that there are a lot of cultural workers in Georgia, who deserve to take place in the pantheon of the great and immortal. One of them was Chabua Amiredzhibi, the author of “Data Tutashkhia”, a popular novel in Georgia.

When an honored person dies, Georgians say: “He goes to his ancestors.” Chabua Amiredzhibi is embodiment of the 20th century in which he lived and worked. When he was young, he was arrested for anti-Soviet activity. It was in Stalin’s time. Amiredzhibi returned from prison as a developed writer. For well-known reasons it was hard for him to publish the main work of his life in one of thick magazines. Readers immediately noted and fell in love with “Data Tutashkhia”, many people still say that the novel is the most significant novel in the whole of Georgian literature.

Data Tutashkhia was born in the Samegrelo region. He fights not against the tsarist regime, but with human sins. The book is written in a vital style. The author managed to draw unforgettable portraits of bright and outstanding people. Philologist Levan Berdzenishvili thinks that Chabua Amiredzhilbi’s novel “is the most non-Soviet novel among all anti-Soviet works.”

Chabua Amiredzhibi was 92 when he died. Recent years he didn’t leave his house and almost didn’t talk. In the end of his life he decided to become a monk. At the same time, he gave interviews, criticized Georgian politicians, especially Mikhail Saakashvili and Zviad Gamsakhurdia.