Ioseliani Otia

Otia Ioseliani (b. June 16, 1930, Gvishtibi, present-day Tskaltubo Municipality – d. July 14, 2011, Gvishtibi), writer. In 1961, he graduated from the Higher Literary Courses of the Union of Soviet Writers. He started publishing his works in 1954. He published his first collection of stories, Neighbors, in 1957, and the children's book The Adventures of a Foolish Boy in 1960. Ioseliani wrote many short stories and novels as well as many children's tales. In the novels Starfall (1962); Captive of the Captive, Black and Blue River (both 1975), the main theme is war. Moral and ethical issues are raised in the novel Once There Was a Woman (1970). His collections of children's stories include: Beyond Nine Mountains (1969); Dachi's Tales, Tsagamtenia (both 1973), etc.

Ioseliani entered the Georgian writing arena with short stories. They contained all the interesting themes and motifs that were later developed in different angles in novels and plays. His work was distinguished by originality and he has his own vision of objects and events. The writer tried to depict the struggle between life and death in the human soul, he respected the manifestation of poetry in people's everyday life, he had a good sense of human psychology, which is almost the leading characteristic of Ioseliani's artistic thinking. The writer knew the village life well, its character, its hardships and virtues, every nuance. He was able to see the colors of rural life that others did not notice and brought them to the reader.

Ioseliani wrote plays and film scripts. Several of his plays (A Man is Born Once, When Love Comes, Before the Cart Turns Over, Six Spinsters and a Man) were staged in Georgian and foreign theatres. He is the author of film scripts: Fast Train, Spring Will Come Soon, White Daughter, Star of My City, etc. Some of Ioseliani's works have been translated into foreign languages. According to his will, he was buried in Gvishtibi, in the yard of his own house.

 

Literary works: სამი რომანი, თბ., 1972; პიესები, თბ., 1973; ნოველები, თბ., 1974; ექვსტომეული, თბ., 2011 (სერია „ჩემი რჩეული").

Literature: ბიბილეიშვილი გ., ოტია იოსელიანის მხატვრული სამყარო, ბათ., 2011; მიქაძე მ., ოტია იოსელიანის ენობრივი სამყარო, ქუთ., 2019; ქვლივიძე ც., ომის თემა ოტია იოსელიანის პროზაში, თბ., 1986.