Author. Konstantine Gamsakhurdia is a Georgian novelist of the 20th century, who is known for the best-selling 1939 historical novel, "The Right Hand of the Grand Master." This book sold 700,000 copies in 12 publications after it was translated to the Russian language from Georgian. Adapted from his novel, a two-episode feature film "The Right Hand of the Grand Master" premiered in 1969. Referring to David IV, King of Georgia, he wrote "David, the Builder." In 1965 for "David, the Builder," he was the first recipient in literature of the Shota Rustaveli State Prize of Georgia, highest prize awarded by Georgia in the fields of art and literature. Maintaining the Georgian culture, his language is precious for Georgian as he was imitating an archaic language to create a sense of classicism. In 1918, he earned a Ph.D. from the Berlin University and was first published in Germany, thus understood Western Europe literature, yet wrote in his native Georgian language. Politically, he fought with the pen the 1921 Bloshevik takeover of Georgia. He had been an attaché in Georgia's embassy in Berlin after the war. In 1925 he published his first novel "The Smile of Dionysus." Though he rejected Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union, he was one of the few authors to survive the horrors of death during Stalin's reign, yet he was exiled to the White Sea and arrested a few times. Preserving the Georgian culture, he was a naturalist and could be seen proudly wearing his traditional fur hat and Chokha, a calf-length, wool coat, which originated in the Middle Ages in Georgia. The coat had bandoliers sewn across the breast to hold bullets and a belt to hold a dagger or khanjali. He was a member of the Georgian Academy of Sciences. A museum housing a collection of memorabilia related to Gamsakhurdia was established in 1987 in his home village of Dzveli Abasha in western Georgia. In his honor, Konstantine Gamsakhurdia Street is located in the old town of Batumi City. A very modern bronze adaption of him, the Konstantine Gamsakhurdia statue, is located on Paliashvili Street in Tbilisi, the capital city of Georgia. In 1963 he published his memoirs, "Flirting with Ghosts." On his deathbed, he was poetic, saying, "help me up, so I can stand and meet this inevitable crusade." Not pleased with all those buried at Mtatsminda Pantheon, he did not accept that honor. He married Miranda Palavandishvili, a member of a Georgian royal dynasty. The couple's only child, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, was the first elected President of the Republic of Georgia.