BRỊTʾIATỊ (COPANỊ FỊRT) ELBỊZDỊQO

 

BRỊTʾIATỊ (COPANỊ FỊRT) ELBỊZDỊQO (Russian Elbyzdyko Britaev), playwright regarded as the founder of Ossetic drama, b. in Dalagkau, North Ossetia, the Caucasus, 22 (= 10 Julian Calendar) March 1881, d. 25 September 1923. His first plays (two short comedies) were published in 1905; he was subsequently exiled from Ossetia for revolutionary activities and studied law at the University of St. Petersburg from 1909 to 1917. In 1917 he returned to the Caucasus, where he continued to identify himself with the revolutionary cause. His plays, in which national and historical themes are favored, are written in a strongly romantic vein and are greatly appreciated today. Especially noteworthy is Amịran, based on the legend of Amiran, the Caucasian Prometheus. He wrote in the Iron dialect of Ossetic.

 

Bibliography:

N. G. Dzhusoity, Istorya osetin­skoĭ literatury II, Tbilisi, 1985, pp. 99-207.

Ocherk razvitiya osetinskoĭ literatury. Dooktyabrskiĭ period, Ordzhonikidze, 1959.

Ravzargä uacmistä (“selected works,” with a short biography), Tskhinvali, 1963.

(Fridrik Thordarson)

Originally Published: December 15, 1989

Last Updated: December 15, 1989

This article is available in print.
Vol. IV, Fasc. 5, p. 455