Editing Grigol Robakidze

{{Short description|Georgian writer, publicist, and émigré leader}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name         = Grigol Robakidze
| image        = Grigol Robakidze, a Georgian public figure, in his younger years.jpg
| alt          =Young Grigol Robakidze image
| imagesize    = 
| birth_date   = {{birth date|1880|10|28|df=y}}
| birth_place  = [[:Ka:სვირი (ზესტაფონის მუნიციპალიტეტი)|Sviri]], [[Kutaisi Governorate]], [[Russian Empire]] (now [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]])
| death_date   = {{death date and age|1962|11|19|1880|10|28|df=y}}
| death_place  = [[Geneva]], [[Switzerland]]
| occupation   = [[novelist]], [[poet]], [[playwright]]
| movement     = [[Modernism]], [[Symbolism (arts)|Symbolism]], [[Expressionism]]
| notableworks = ''Das Schlangenhemd'' ''[[The Snake's Skin]]'' (1926 - in Georgian, 1928 - in German)
| signature=Grigol Robakidze signature.svg
}}
'''Grigol Robakidze''' ({{Lang-ka|გრიგოლ რობაქიძე}}) (October 28, 1880, [[:Ka:სვირი (ზესტაფონის მუნიციპალიტეტი)|Sviri]], [[Kutaisi Governorate]] – November 19, 1962, [[Geneva]]) was a [[Georgia (country)|Georgian]] writer, publicist, and [[public figure]] primarily known for his prose and [[anti-Soviet]] émigré activities.

==Biography==
He was born on October 28, 1880, in the village of [[:Ka:სვირი (ზესტაფონის მუნიციპალიტეტი)|Sviri]], [[Imereti]] (west Georgia). After the graduation from Kutaisi Classical Gymnasium (1900), he took courses at the [[University of Tartu]] ([[Estonia]]) and the [[University of Leipzig]] ([[Germany]]). Robakidze returned from Germany in 1908, and gradually became a leading person among the young Georgian [[Symbolism (movement)|symbolist]]s. In 1915, he founded and led the ''Blue Horns'', a new group of symbolist poets and writers which would later play an important role, particularly during the next two decades. Heavily influenced by [[Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche]], his prose centered "on the search of mythological archetypes and their realisation in the life of a nation, and although its intrigue is always artificial and displays much of pose, he was highly respected both by his compatriots and a number of important [[Europe]]an literary figures, such as [[Stefan Zweig]] and [[Nikos Kazantzakis]]."<ref>{{cite web|title=George Tarkhan-Mouravi (1997), ''70 Years of Soviet Georgia: From Independence to Independence'' |url=http://rolfgross.tripod.com/Texts/Giahistory.htm |accessdate=2006-05-24 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060412083013/http://rolfgross.tripod.com/Texts/Giahistory.htm |archivedate=2006-04-12 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1917, he played a role in founding of the [[Union of Georgian Writers]]. He was involved in the national liberation movement of Georgia of 1914–1918. Robakidze got a diplomatic post in 1919, when he took part in the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]] as an executive secretary of the state delegation of the [[Democratic Republic of Georgia]].

After annexation of Georgia by Soviet Russia in 1921, he remained in the country, but was known for his anti-Soviet sentiments. His famous play ''Lamara'' was staged by the leading Georgian director [[Aleksandre Akhmeteli|Sandro Akhmeteli]] in 1930, a performance which became a prize-winner at the 1930 [[Moscow]] Drama Olympiad.

Robakidze and his wife defected to Germany the same year. Despite [[Lavrenti Beria]]'s objections, they had secured exit visas, ostensibly to supervise the translation of his works into German, and had decided not to return. This hardened Beria's resolve to deal with the rest of the Blue Horns.<ref>Rayfield, Donald (2000), ''The Literature of Georgia: A History'': 1st edition, p. 265. Routledge, {{ISBN|0-7007-1163-5}}.</ref> ''Lamara'' continued to be staged to prove the achievements of [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] theatrical art, although without the name of the playwright being announced. His defection, along with [[Vladimir Mayakovsky]]'s suicide, silenced most of his fellow poets for a long while. As an émigré, Robakidze had a rather unhappy life.

During [[World War II]], he participated in the right-wing patriotic émigré organizations such as the Committee of Independence of Georgia (1941), the [[Union of Georgian Traditionalists]] (1942) and [[Tetri Giorgi (organization)|Tetri Giorgi]]. After the war, his two books on [[Benito Mussolini]] and [[Adolf Hitler]] were believed to favour [[Nazism]]. Famous representatives of the Georgian political emigration rejected this claim.

He died a broken man in [[Geneva]] on November 19, 1962. He was later reburied in the Cemetery of [[Leuville-sur-Orge]], [[France]], a burial ground of the Georgian emigration to Europe.

== Grigol Robakidze's Links to Kurban Said ==

In her book ''[[Ali and Nino – Literary Robbery!]]'', Tamar Injia claims that ''[[Ali and Nino: A Love Story]]'' by [[Kurban Said]] (Austria, 1937) is extensively plagiarized from, and owes much of its existence to ''[[The Snake's Skin]]'' by Grigol Robakidze (Germany, 1928). By comparing passages from both novels (35 comprehensive extracts), the author argues that sections from ''Ali and Nino: A Love Story'' are copied from ''The Snake's Skin''. Additionally, by analyzing the literal parallels in both novels, the author shows "side-by-side" similarities in content, namely repeated stories, myths, legends, characters and plot structures. The specific passages in question relate to excursions that Ali and Nino made to Tbilisi and to Iran.

Injia's research findings were first published in a series of articles in the Georgian newspaper ''Our Literature'' <ref>Injia, Tamar. Again, on Peculiarities of Ali and Nino. Second Letter. Newspaper "Akhali Epoqa" ("New Epoch"), insert "Chveni mtserloba" ("Our Literature"). 30 May – 5 June 2003. Print.</ref><ref>Injia, Tamar. Whether the author of ''Ali and Nino'' was acquainted with ''The Snake's Skin'' by Grigol Robakidze? Newspaper "Akhali Epoqa" ("New Epoch"), insert "Chveni mtserloba" ("Our Literature"). 21–27 March 2003. Print.</ref> (2003) and later printed as books ''Grigol Robakidze… Kurban Said – Literary Robbery'' (2005) in Georgian <ref>Injia, Tamar. Grigol Robakidze…. Kurban Said – Literary Robbery. Meridiani Publishing. Tbilisi: 2005. {{ISBN|99940-46-21-7}} / 9789994046218 / 99940-46-21-7</ref> and ''Ali and Nino – Literary Robbery!'' (2009) in English.<ref>[http://imbooks.weebly.com/injia-tamar.html Injia, Tamar. Ali and Nino – Literary Robbery! IM Books. Norwalk, Conn: 2009.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321040625/http://imbooks.weebly.com/injia-tamar.html |date=2012-03-21 }} {{ISBN|0-615-23249-3}} / 978-0-615-23249-2</ref>

The findings of Injia were supported and shared by the representatives from various literary circles, scholars and researchers from Georgia and the US: Gia Papuashvili –  documentary movie producer and philologist;<ref>Papuashvili, Gia. This Literary Cheating Has Been Revealed. "Akhali Epoqa" ("New Epoch"), insert "Chveni mtserloba" ("Our Literature"). 4–10 April 2003. Print.</ref> Levan Bregadze – German linguist, Georgian literary critic and philologist;<ref>Bregadze, Levan. He Had Read It. Newspaper "Akhali Epoqa" ("New Epoch"), insert "Chveni mtserloba" ("Our Literature"). 20–26 June 2003. Print.</ref> Zaza Alexidze – former Director of the [[Georgian National Center of Manuscripts]], and [http://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ai113_folder/113_articles/113_zaza_script_ashes.html discoverer and decipherer of the Caucasian Albanian written script]; Betty Blair – researcher of authorship of ''Ali and Nino: A Love Story'' and founding editor of magazine [[Azerbaijan International]].<ref>Blair, Betty. [http://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ai152_folder/152_index_eng.html Who Wrote Azerbaijan's Most Famous Novel "Ali and Nino"]? The Business of Literature. Magazine "Azerbaijan International", Volume 15.2-4 (2011)</ref>

== Main works ==

* "Georgian poet Vazha Pshavela".-"Russkaya Mysl", August, 1911 (in Russian)
* "Georgian Modernism".-Russian journal "ARS", Tbilisi, 1918 (in Russian)
* "Portraits", Tbilisi, 1919 (in Russian)
* "Lamara", Tbilisi, 1928 (in Georgian)
* "[[The Snake's Skin|Das Schlangenhemd]]". Ed. by [[Stefan Zweig]], Jena, 1928 (in German)
* "Megi - Ein georgisches Mädchen", Tübingen, 1932 (in German)
* "Die gemordete Seele", Jena, 1933 (in German)
* "Vražděná duše", Prague, 1934 (in Czech)
* "Der Ruf der Göttin", Jena, 1934 (in German),
* "Die Hüter des Grals", Jena, 1937 (in German),
* "Adolf Hitler in the Eyes of an Unknown Poet", 1937-38 (in German)<ref>[http://www.litinfo.ge/volume-2/kvataia.htm/ When the Truth is Read between the Lines]</ref>
* "Mussolini", 1938-39 (in German)
* "Dämon und Mythos", Jena, 1935 (in German),the article [https://archive.org/details/StalinAlsAhrimanischeMacht "Stalin als Ahrimanische Macht"] is part of this book
* "Kaukasische Novellen", Leipzig, 1932; München, 1979 (In German)
* "La Georgie en son image du monde".- "[[Bedi Kartlisa]]"- Le destin de la Georgie", No 16, Paris, 1954 (in French)
* "Vom Weltbild der Georgier".- "Atlantis", October, 1961, Zürich (in German)
* "Hymne an Orpheus" (Poem).- Collection "Grigol Robakidze", Munich, 1984 (in German).

== Scholarship ==
* Avetisian, Violeta. "[https://www.academia.edu/1452891/THE_THIRD_SHORE_OF_GRIGOL_ROBAKIDZE_AND_VLADIMIR_NABOKOV The Third Shore of Grigol Robakidze and Vladimir Nabokov]". ''Intellectual'' 16 (2011): 15–23, (in Russian).
* Dichter schreiben über sich selbst, Jena, 1940 (in German)
* [[Nikos Kazantzakis]]. Toda Raba, Paris, 1962 (in French)
* "Grigol Robakidze" (Collection), Published by Dr. Karlo Inasaridze, Munich, 1984 (in Georgian, German and French)
* Urushadze, Levan. "Grigol Robakidze as a Political Figure." Periodical Scientific Journal ''Prometheus'' 5, no. 17 (2005): 172–175 (in Georgian, Eng. summary).

==See also==
* [[List of Eastern Bloc defectors]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{commons category|Grigol Robakidze}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Robakidze, Grigol}}
[[Category:1880 births]]
[[Category:1962 deaths]]
[[Category:Nationalists from Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:Dramatists and playwrights from Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:German-language writers]]
[[Category:Soviet defectors]]
[[Category:20th-century dramatists and playwrights from Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:Expressionist writers]]
[[Category:Expressionist poets]]
[[Category:Burials at Leuville cemetery]]