GOGUA ALEXEI NOCHEVICH
15.03.1932
He is the People's Writer of Abkhazia, winner of the D. I. Gulia State Prize of Abkhazia for Literature, Commander of the Order of Akhidz-Apsha, 1st degree.
He was born on 15 March 1932 in the village of Gup, Ochamchira district.
He studied first in his native village, then in Tkuarchal town, and finished secondary school in Pakuash village of Tkurchal district.
After school, the future writer submitted documents for admission to the Faculty of Russian Language and Literature of the Sukhumi Pedagogical Institute. But then, having successfully passed the basic subjects, he fails the Georgian language exam. After that failure he got a job as a bulk dumper in a mine in Tkuarchal, and a year later he entered the institute in his chosen speciality.
Later, from 1955 to 1960, Alexei Gogua studied at the A. M. Gorky Literary Institute in Moscow. In 1959 he became a member of the Union of Writers of the USSR.
After graduation, Gogua returns to his homeland. Worked as executive secretary of the magazine «Alashara» (since 1962), senior editor of the state publishing house, chief editor of the children's magazine «Amtsabz» (in 1975-1989), chairman of the board of the Union of Writers of Abkhazia (in 1989-1997).
Alexey started writing since childhood, his love for words was conditioned by family traditions. My father was a storyteller, well versed in folklore and folk epic, talented in performing it, excellent with words.
Gogua started his creative career with poems. His first publication was the poem «Geologist», it was printed in the newspaper «Apsny Kapsh» in 1949. Alexei was 17 years old at the time.
Today we know him as the author of many short stories, novels, novellas, novels, critical and journalistic articles and essays.
And his novel rhapsody «Asdu» («Big Snow») became a cult work in Abkhazian literature, which was translated into many languages of the peoples of the former Soviet Union, European languages and Japanese.
Gogua himself also did translations. Thanks to him, Fyodor Dostoevsky's ‘Crime and Punishment’ and ‘White Nights’, Leo Tolstoy's ‘The Death of Ivan Ilyich’, Konstantin Fedin's ‘Abkhazian Stories’ and other works appeared in the Abkhaz language.
According to Alexei Gogua, all great writers are modern writers.
He admits to revisiting Marquez's novel «One Hundred Years of Solitude» over and over again.
«I think it's an outstanding work, in many ways summarising the achievement of the novel genre in general», he says.
Among Abkhaz authors, Gogua singles out the Abkhaz national poet Bagrat Shinkub, his poetry and prose.
«If the motifs of Abkhazian literature are present in the great sea of literature, it is, first of all, the motifs of the deeply folk poetry of Bagrat Shinkub», - Alexei Gogua is confident.
Throughout his life Alexei Nochievich took an active part in the socio-political life of Abkhazia.
In 1988 he became People's Deputy of the USSR (1988-1991). His name is inextricably linked with the socio-political movement People's Forum of Abkhazia ‘Aidgilara’, which he headed. Everyone familiar with the history of Abkhazia knows how important a role this association played in the national liberation struggle of the Abkhaz people.
«If the people are the burning coals, one must be their unquenchable flame that warms and shines», the writer concludes.
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