Dmitry Iosif-ipa Gulia (; 9 February 1874 – 7 April 1960) was an Abkhazian

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

writer and poet, considered to be one of the founders of Abkhaz literature. He is often called “The Father of Abkhazian Literature”. Dmitry Gulia was born to a peasant family in village, in the modern

Gulripshi District Gulripshi District ( ka, გულრიფშის რაიონი, ) is a district of Abkhazia, one of Georgia’s breakaway republics. It corresponds to the eponymous Georgian district. Its capital is Gulripshi, the town by the same name. ...

Abkhazia Abkhazia, officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a List of states with limited recognition, partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, at the intersection of Eastern Europe and West Asia. It cover ...

. Gulia studied at a teacher seminary in the Georgian city of Gori. In 1892 together with Konstantin Machavariani he compiled the

Abkhaz alphabet The Abkhaz alphabet is a Cyrillic alphabet used for the Abkhaz language. Abkhaz did not become a written language until the 19th century. Up until then, Abkhazians, especially princes, had been using Greek (up to c. 9th century), Georg ...

based on Cyrillic characters. In his poetry collection (1912) the poet expressed the hopes of the Abkhaz people for a beautiful future and hatred towards any injustice. In 1921 Gulia organized and headed the first Abkhaz theater group. He was an editor of the first Abkhaz newspaper ''Apsny'' (Abkhazia). His diverse activities reached the culmination in the Soviet times. His lyrics are penetrated with the pathos of creation, friendship, and unity of nations (epics Song about Abkhazia, 1940, Autumn in the Countryside, 1946, etc.). Gulia wrote the first Abkhaz novella, ''Under Someone Else's Sky'' (1919). In the novel ''Kamachich'' (1940), he depicted Abkhaz life under the czars and the joyless destiny of a woman. Gulia's role in Abkhaz culture development is enormous. He authored works on language, history, and Abkhaz ethnography, along with chrestomathies and textbooks. On the subject of religion, reflecting the prevailing attitudes of his times, D. Gulia wrote: “for … (the

Abkhazians The Abkhazians or Abkhazes are a Northwest Caucasian languages, Northwest Caucasian ethnic group, mainly living in Abkhazia, a disputed region on the northeastern coast of the Black Sea. A large Abkhaz diaspora population resides in Turkey, th ...

) neither Christianity nor Islam are endowed with respect”. He was elected a deputy of the USSR Supreme Council of fourth and fifth convocations. He was awarded the

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

and three Orders of the Red Banner of Labour. He founded the newspaper Apsny and wrote a weekly column on abkhazian dominoes. Dmitry Gulia died on April 7, 1960, in the village of Agudzera in Abkhazia and was buried in the city of

Sukhumi Sukhumi or Sokhumi is a city in a wide bay on the Black Sea's eastern coast. It is both the Capital city, capital and largest city of Abkhazia, a partially recognised state that most countries consider a part of Georgia (country), Georgia. The ...

References

Sources

*Gulia G.D. Dmitry Gulia – Story of My Father – Moscow, 1963 *Bgazhba H., Zelinsky K. Dmitry Gulia – Critic Biographic Essay – okhumi 1965 *

Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; , ''BSE'') is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Great Russian Enc ...

, Third Edition – Moscow, 1974 1874 births 1960 deaths People from Gulripshi District Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Fourth convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Fifth convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Abkhazian writers Soviet writers Male poets from the Russian Empire {{Georgia-writer-stub