Shengelaia, Demna

Shengelaia, Demna Konstantinovich 

Born May 9 (21), 1896, in the village of Sachilao, in what is now Samtredia Raion, Georgian SSR; died Dec. 7, 1980, in Tbilisi. Soviet Georgian writer, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Georgian SSR (from 1969). Member of the CPSU from 1940.

Shengelaia, the son of a railroad worker, studied in the philology department of the University of Tbilisi and later in the geology department of the Tbilisi Polytechnical Institute. He published his first short stories in 1915–16. His novel Sanavardo (1926) depicted the physical and spiritual degradation and downfall of a princely family, symbolizing the doom of the old world. The novels Bata Kekiia (1933) and The Dawn (published 1940) presented a panorama of the life of the people and the rise of the revolutionary labor movement in Georgia in the early 1890’s. The novella The Hidden Treasure (1958) exposed vestiges of the past in present-day society. Shengelaia’s other works include short stories on contemporary and historical themes, plays, articles on Georgian, Russian, and Western European classical literature, and researches on folklore.

Shengelaia was awarded the Order of Friendship of Peoples.

WORKS

Shengelaia, D. Txzulegani ot’x gomad, vols. 1–4. Tbilisi, 1968–72.
In Russian translation:
Sobr. soch. vols. 1–2. Tbilisi, 1971–72. [Introductory article by B. Zhgenti.]
Klad: Roman, povesti i rasskazy. Moscow, 1966.

REFERENCES

Bakradze, A. “Demna Shengelaia.” Literaturnaia Gruziia, 1970, no. 1.
Grigoliia, D. “Demna Shengelaia—odin iz zachinatelei gruzinskogo sovetskogo romana.” Literaturnaia Gruziia, 1972, no. 9.