Henri Barbusse

Henri Barbusse (May 17, 1873, Anières – August 30, 1935, Moscow; buried in Paris at the Père Lachaise Cemetery) was a French writer and public figure.

After publishing his first works, he became interested in social realities, focusing his attention on the pressing issues of his time. He volunteered in World War I and was one of the first to describe the horrors of war in his novel "Under Fire." After 1917, he began extensive public activities by founding an international group and the journal "Clarté." He produced critical publications and initiated an anti-war congress in Amsterdam (1932), an anti-fascist congress in Paris (1933), and a world congress for the protection of culture in Paris (1935). Galaktion Tabidze attended this congress and afterwards, he frequently mentioned Barbusse in his poems.

In 1927, Barbusse sent a letter to the editorial office of the newspaper "Communist," expressing his interest in Georgia's social and cultural life, literature, art and history. In October 1927, in Vladikavkaz, a group of Georgian writers met him and accompanied him to Tbilisi. After that, he traveled through Western Georgia, visiting many cities and villages. Upon returning to France, he began writing a long-planned work about Georgia. This book titled “Voici ce Qu'on a Fait de la Géorgie” (This is What They Did to Georgians) was published by “Flammarion” in February 1929. That same year, A. Chumbadze translated it into Georgian, and it was published in Tbilisi in 1930. The author reviews the history and cultural life of the Georgian people, paying particular attention to national issues. He starts from the era of Tamar and Rustaveli and provides vivid portrayals of contemporary Georgia, based on his own observations and experiences.

In the last years of his life, Barbusse wrote the book "Stalin" (1935). One of the first translators of Barbusse's works was T. Sakhokia, who published the novel "Under Fire" in Georgian in 1929 (it was reissued in 1930).

Literature: თურნავა ს., ლიტერატურული ნარკვევები, თბ., 1978.

M. Titvinidze