Amirejibi Shalva
Shalva G. Amirejibi (1887, Khurvaleti Village, Gori municipality, – July 1943, Paris, buried there, at the Saint-Ouen cemetery) was a poet and political figure. He was a member of the Central Committee of the National Democratic Party. During Georgian independence, between 1918 and 1921 he was a member of the National Council and the Constituent Assembly of Georgia.
He graduated from Tbilisi Gymnasium for Tavadaznauri (Noblemen). He started writing poems during his school years. In his youth, he joined the revolutionary movement and participated in the 1905 demonstrations in Kutaisi. In 1906, he traveled to Europe for higher education, attending lectures at the University of Vienna. In 1909, he returned to Georgia and published an almanac called Chveni Eri (Our Nation); soon after, he was arrested. His literary career began in the early 1910s. He worked as a contributor for the national-democratic journal Klde (the Cliff) where he published works under the pseudonym "Parsman-Parukhi." From 1915, he became a regular contributor to the national-democratic newspapers Samshoblo (Homeland) and Sakartvelo (Georgia), probably under various pseudonyms such as "Chorchaneli," "Sh. A.," and "A.-I."
During this period, he published the following notable works: Dimitri Kipianis Politikuri Kredo (Political Credo of Demetre Kipiani) (Klde, 1912, No.14), "Shota Rustaveli" (Klde, 1913, No.16), Vazha-Pshavelas Gardacvalebis Gamo (Due to the death of Vazha-Pshavela) (Sakartvelo, 1915, No.60), Valerian Gunia (Sakartvelo, 1917, No.92), Georgian Mensheviks (Sakartvelo, 1918, No.8), Amier-Kavkasiis Seimi (The Sejm of the Transcaucasia) (Sakartvelo, 1918, No.11), Damoukdeboba (Independence) (Sakartvelo, 1918, No.232), Tbilisi University (Sakartvelo, 1921, No.18), and others. He also took part in World War I in 1916.
In February 1917, after the Bolshevik Revolution, he returned to Georgia and became an influential figure in the National Democratic Party. Together with S. Kedia and R. Gabashvili, he represented the National Democratic Party's faction in the Parliament of independent Georgia. In 1919, he married V. Anjaparidze, his long-term literary inspiration. He dedicated numerous poems to her and some were included in a small collection of lyrical poetry "Minankrebi," published in 1920. Aleksidze was a close friend of Georgian symbolist poets and members of Tsisperkantselebi (Blue Horns): G. Leonidze, P. Iashvili, T. Tabidze, etc. His two poems, Maskaradi and Lekuri were art of Akhali Poeziis Antologia (Anthology of New Poetry) (Kutaisi, 1919).
From 1922 to 1924, he created dedications and epigrams to S. Kancheli, Sh. Dadiani, P. Kavtaradze, G. Robakidze, Sh. Sharashidze, I. Grishashvili, K. Andronikashvili, and others. During the same period, he wrote several notable lyrical works such as Shemodgoma (the Spting), Kutaturi Serenade, Antianachreonti, Mshvidobit Mtsvane Kiketo (Goodbye, Green Kiketi), Kandaki, Revolution, Muse and others. In 1922, he published a small book, "Vasil Abashidze," commemorating the 50th anniversary of V. Abashidze's literary activity.
Amirejibi supported Kakutsa Cholokashvili and became one of his closest co-conspirators in the fight against the new regime. Following the unsuccessful August Uprising in 1924, he was forced into exile abroad in 1925. He primarily lived in France and Germany. During his emigration, he published his poems, prose, and critical letters in the Georgian emigrant press, including Samshoblo, Damoukidebeli Sakartvelo, Bedi Kartlisa, and Kavkasioni. In 1940, he founded the journal "Akhali Droeba" in Berlin. Notable among his works of the emigration period are Mamul, Kote Abkhazis Sikvdili, Kote Andronikashvili, Elene Abkhazi, Rubaiyat, Sofeli, Shalva Sharashidze, Vera Paghava, and others.
Literature: მ ე ტ რ ე ვ ე ლ ი ს., შალვა ამირეჯიბის პოლიტიკური დისკურსი და პირადი ცხოვრების უცნობი წახნაგები, კრ. „სახელმწიფოებრივი სუვერენობის იდეა და XX საუკუნის მწერლობა", საერთაშორისო სიმპოზიუმი ლიტერატურათმცოდნეობის თანამედროვე პრობლემები, თბ., 2018; შარაძე გ., უცხოეთის ცის ქვეშ, წგ. 1, თბ., 1991.
G. Sharadze
