Eddie Arnavoudian

Book cover We have here a riveting and fresh evaluation of Anastas Mikoyan (1895-1978) and his reforms during Nikita Khrushchev’s 1953-1964 post-Stalin Soviet ‘Thaw’. Pietro Shakarian gets directly to the point. Mikoyan, a senior figure in the Soviet state and government, played a ‘pivotal’ role ‘in dismantling and rejecting the repressive Stalinist legacy’. He was in addition ‘the Kremlin’s leading reformer on nationality matters’ and ‘firmly believed that the best possible future for the development of the USSR’s nationalities’ was within a ‘reformed and democratised Soviet socialist framework....

An outstanding demographic study of 17-18th century eastern Armenia Since the Armenian state’s defeat in the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani 44-Day Karabakh War and since the final ethnic cleansing of Armenians from Karabakh in September 2023, the common people of Armenia now confront a new veritable existential challenge. Arrogant sectors of the Azerbaijani ruling class are shamelessly calling into question the very right of Armenians to live even within Armenia’s current borders. Their immediate target is Syunik, the geo-strategically critical southernmost province of Armenia....

‘The Gardens of Silihdar’ by Zabel Yessaian Zabel Yessaian (1878-1943) was one of the outstanding Armenian writers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Possessed of literary ambitions, when but 12 years old, confident and audacious without prior arrangement she knocked at the door of well-established woman novelist Srbouhi Dussap. During what was to be a warm encounter Dussap warned that ‘the male writer can succeed even when mediocre, the woman cannot....

Arsen** Tokhmakhian - an intellectual for the 21st century** Armenia needs a new generation of radical, revolutionary intellectuals to guide us out of the rut in which we find ourselves, especially after the disastrous 2020 44-Day War. Here digging deep into our own intellectual legacy is an urgent first step. And hidden from view by more well-known figures is one Arsen Tokhmakhian (1843-1891)** **– possibly the most consistent and most radical but also the most controversial and provocative of Armenian thinkers who adumbrated central methodological principles in studying Armenian history, politics, and life absolutely relevant to our future in these 21st century global times....

The Golden Age of Armenian Poetry**** LONDON, UK Remarks on early 20th century Armenian poetry For all interested in Armenian and international poetry and in the artistic inquiry into social and individual life, Azat Yeghiazaryan’s ‘The Golden Age of Armenian Poetry’ (176pp, 2019, Yerevan, Armenia) is vitalising reading. We grasp almost immediately why the author chose this particular title for a volume subtitled ‘Remarks on Early 20th Century Armenian Poetry’....

A Soviet era indictment of the Stalinist leadership during the Soviet Union’s war against Hitler Written with page upon page of light-hearted humor that belies the grimness of its subject Khazhak Gyulnazarian’s (1918-1995) 1966 novel ‘Where the Horizon Ends’ is a significant and rare Armenian addition to the library of World War II literature. The novel tells primarily of the dehumanization of Soviet soldiers in Nazi prisoner of war camps in Romania....

On the collapse of the 1918 First Armenian Republic and the 1921 Russo-Turkish Treaty of Kars LONDON, UK The Collapse of the First 1918-1920 Armenian Republic PART TWO III. The 1920 Turkish offensive against Armenia and the fall of Kars On 24 September 1920 Turkey launched its offensive to retake the Armenian controlled and strategically critical city of Kars and the 60,000 square kilometers of surrounding territory that had passed to Armenia after the 1918 Mudros Armistice....

Yervant Odian - exposing the liars, the deceivers, the venal parasites, the cheaters and the exploiters Where is our Yervant Odian for the age of Pashinyan and indeed his immediate predecessors too! Never mind that Armenian satirical writer Yervant Odian (1869-1926) is from the late 19th and early 20th century and has not had an entirely good press. Outstanding literary critic Minas Tölölyan and Lebanese-Armenian poet Mushegh Ishkhan for example dismiss him as second rate, as one who lacked spine and individuality and whose works leave little imprint – ‘one laughs and passes on’....

Unflinching critical engagement in Soviet Armenia **** Short story writer and novelist Stepan Zorian (1889-1967) described himself as a ‘chronicler of his times’. His three volumes of posthumously published notes, letters, articles, fragments from unfinished short stories and novels and especially his diaries make for riveting reading about life in Soviet Armenia. They are full of frank and revealing insight as they expertly chronicle the Stalin era, the hardships of everyday life in Armenia, the traumas of Armenian history, the fragility of the Soviet Armenian state, the reality of Great Russian and other national chauvinisms, the Cold War, the threat of global nuclear catastrophe, opinions on writers and poets as well as on his own literary career and much more....

Vaghtang** Ananian - for peace and harmony between humanity and the natural world** LONDON, UK The very best of Vaghtang Ananian’s (1905-1980) short stories about the natural world (in Selected Works - 4 Volumes, 1984, Yerevan), about animal life and the bonds between nature, beast, and humanity, are genuinely exhilarating. They help make one particularly conscious of the disaster we humans are inflicting on nature in this, the 21st century. Ananian is a charming and captivating raconteur who focuses on life in the villages, the hills, mountains and valleys of the early Soviet Armenian era and the years immediately preceding it, particularly in the northern Lori and Dilijan regions....

Prominent Soviet era novelist Anahit Sahinyan’s (1917-2010) ‘Blowing in the Wind – Volume 2’ (2005, 460pp, Yerevan) throws a sharp and critical light on the origins and nature of the elites that are currently leading and destroying the Armenian nation and state. Herein is the enduring value of a book published 16 years ago! The volume is a collection of socio-political commentaries penned during the decade after the collapse of the USSR and the 1991 formation of the Third Armenian Republic....

Nerses** Shnorhali: consolidating foundations of statehood** LONDON, UK Nerses Shnorhali (Nerses the Gracious 1102-1173), one of the great 12th century Patriarchs of the Cilician-Armenian Church, was a remarkable man; an intellectual, teacher, poet and musician he was also a profound socio-political thinker. His 1166 ‘Epistle to the Community’ written some seventy-four years after the 1080 establishment of the Armenian-Cilician monarchy is a withering survey of the unbridled conduct of the ruling and privileged classes in the new state....

PART FIVE: the uncollected dreams When turning to a poet’s work that, for whatever reason, remained unpublished or uncollected during her or his lifetime, one hesitates almost inevitably. Do they really enhance or cast a new aspect on the poet’s legacy? Or are they but loose ends, oddities, valuable for academic specialists or enthusiastic biographers alone? Daniel Varoujean’s ‘Uncollected and Unpublished Poems’, 73 in all, leave the question marks in place....

Part Two I. Classes in the ANLM – peasants, Diaspora elites and the intelligentsia The Armenian national movement was always an uneasy and unstable coexistence of different classes, strata and social forces in Armenian communities that stretched across Ottoman and Tsarist borders and beyond. Between the two main classes – the powerful and wealthy Istanbul-Tbilisi-Baku based Diaspora trading and establishment elites on the one hand, and the mass of Armenian peasants and artisans living in their historic homelands on the other - there was little community of interest....

In the Armenian national pantheon, there should be a special place reserved for the armed Armenian freedom fighters known as the Fedayeen who in the late 19th and early 20th century battled to defend their homeland peasant and artisan communities against a rising tide of ferocious Ottoman attack. They deserve to be remembered well, for their example to this day has lessons for the common people of Armenia and the world....

Leo’s biographies of Mesrop Taghiatian (1803-1858) and Stepannos Nazaryants (1812-1879), published in 1917 and 1902 respectively, (Collected Works, Volume 6, 1987, pp727-853 and pp5-204) remain still timely corrections to a dismal want of knowledge about two important figures of the 19th century Armenian enlightenment. Leo does more however! He presents us figures who, however dated their world view may seem to us, stand as sterling examples of authentic intellectuals, deeply democratic intellectuals animated by and dedicated to public service, to the people and the nation....

US-based Armenian writer Hamasdegh (1895-1966), like US-based short story writer Vahe Haig and Istanbul-based Hagop Mntsouri, was inspired not primarily by the world in which he lived but by recollections of the world he had been forced to abandon in early youth as a result of the 1915 Armenian Genocide. So, here a volume of short stories (The Village, 262pp, 1995, Cilicia Publications, Aleppo) of remembrance, reconstruction and recovery of men and women from the pre-Genocide Armenian village....

A HISTORY OF ARMENIAN CRITICAL THOUGHT… (Part 3) Part V: The Radical Democrats Let us open with a taster of the tradition we inherit from the Armenian mid-19th century. Stepan Oskanian (1825-1901) ‘It is time that our common people came to realise that they are as capable of great things as any other people and that they can be as good as any other people in arming themselves against foreign or domestic tyrants....

The criticism of an unjust, iniquitous social order, of oppressing and exploiting states and ruling elites is not a Marxist invention! The intellectual critique of foreign and domestic states and elites forms a solid axis in the cultural and intellectual legacy of every nation. Among Armenians too, besides the sycophantic, self-serving glorification of ugly elites, by hired pens of a kept intelligentsia, often priestly, there is an ancient critical tradition worthy of recall and recovery....

A History of Armenian Critical Thought… The criticism of an unjust, iniquitous social order, of oppressing and exploiting states and ruling classes is not a Marxist invention! The intellectual critique of foreign and domestic states and elites forms a solid axis in the cultural and intellectual legacy of every nation. Among Armenians too, besides the sycophantic, self-serving glorification of ugly elites, by hired pens of a kept intelligentsia, often priestly, there is an ancient critical tradition worthy of recall and recovery....

Welcoming the traveller at Yerevan’s Central Railway Station is a commanding statue of David of Sassoun the main protagonist of the Armenian national epic ‘The Daredevils of Sassoun’. For their own sake no representative of the Armenian elite should pass before him! Astride his famous talking Colt Djalali, wielding a Thunderbolt Sword, David is ready to strike - but today not so much against foreign invaders, as against the ruling classes of his own nation that have hijacked the land and devour it like any foreign conqueror....

Notes for a reading of the ‘Book Lamentations’ by Narek Armenian News Network / Groong June 26, 2017 ByEddie Arnavoudian ** ** Reading Narek: Five Elegies 21-25 ** ** * * * * * * In one aspect, Elegies 21-25 constitute a relatively coherent whole expressing clearly Narek’s conception of man/woman as a magnificent, richly-gifted, rational being who has however failed to live up to his/her essence and potential. Essence and potential frequently appear as silent oppositions in hammering images of failure and degeneration....

Besides being a fine literary study Hasmik Sahakyan’s ‘Armenian Poetry in the Late Middle Ages: 16th and 17th Centuries’ (336pp, 1975, Yerevan) is an important contribution to the intellectual and social history of modern Armenian national development. Sahakyan opens by quoting Manoug Abeghian, doyen of Armenian literary historians. ‘The 16th century and the first quarter of the 17th were’ Abeghian writes ’the darkest periods in Armenian life and letters.’ However he adds that ‘a new period of revival begins’ (p6) as the hundred-year Ottoman-Iranian war, fought mainly on Armenian soil, comes to an end in 1639....

Armenian Literature for the 21st Century… ‘Never Die - this is what I have to say’, by Hovhannes Grigoryan, (164pp, 2010, Yerevan, a digital version is available at: https://yavrumyan.blogspot.co.uk/p/ebook.html thanks to the fantastic work being done by Marat Yavrumyan) IT’S TIME TO USE POETIC STONES! Hovhannes Grigoryan’s ‘Never Die - this is what I have to say’ (164pp, 2010, Armenia, Yerevan) supplies us a heap of granite-hard poetic stones to hurl at the mansions of power, at the social and political hucksters, thieves, charlatans, hypocrites, warmongers and environmental barbarians who today rule the roost, in Armenia and globally....

Worth a read… Not necessarily masterpieces or artistically outstanding. Yet none will disappoint the lover of literature. Reading them one will always find something of value. Armenia During the 1905 Russian Revolution ‘Armenia During the 1905 Russian Revolution’ by T A Muradyan (260pp, 1964) retains value despite disfigurement by needless use of Russian-language words and despite its uncouth rant against the ARF. Bringing together often ignored historical data it is a reminder of the existence in eastern Armenia of economic and social grounds for a home grown militant peasant and working class movement, however small....

Notes for a reading of the ‘Book Lamentations’ by Narek Armenian News Network / Groong November 28, 2016 ByEddie Arnavoudian ** ** Reading Narek: Four ** ** * * * * * * Elegies 16-20 1. Though discussing units of 5 elegies at a time is somewhat arbitrary, in this set there appears to be discrete and organic unity. Here Narek ‘appeals for the strength’ (‘ուժ տուր’) to correct his ‘deviating course’ (‘մոլոր ընթաձքը’ - p52)....

Notes for a reading of the ‘Book Lamentations’ by Narek Armenian News Network / Groong November 21, 2016 ByEddie Arnavoudian ** ** Reading Narek: Three * * * * * * Elegies 11-15 1. Always totally confident of humanity’s potential for recovery Narek urges ‘faith in change that can help to totally cleanse the sinner’ (‘հաւատալը եւ այն փոփոխության որ մեղաւորը կարող է դառնալ լիովին քավված - p30). The aspect of the Divine within remains an indestructible core, a very constituent of being human....

Notes for a reading of the ‘Book Lamentations’ by Narek Armenian News Network / Groong November 13, 2016 ByEddie Arnavoudian ** ** Reading Narek: Two * * * * * * B. Elegies 6-10 1. In his self-examination Narek intends to be fearless and frank even though he knows that this will expose his life and the entire body of society to be warped and rotten (p25, Elegy 9.a Բան Թ....

Notes for a reading of the ‘Book of Lamentations’ by Narek Armenian News Network / Groong November 7, 2016 ByEddie Arnavoudian ** ** Reading Narek: One As a contribution to an imaginary Book Club devoted to reading Narek’s ‘The Book of Lamentations’ I offer, almost unedited, notes that I made in the course of a second appreciation of this epic. To allow meaning to unfold through each stage of reading I tried to avoid inferences based on an acquaintance with the entire text....

Worth a read… Not necessarily masterpieces or artistically outstanding. Yet none will disappoint the lover of literature. Reading them one will always find something of value… I. Mkrtich Armen - the artist in the age of revolution Melkiset Melkonian’s ‘Mkrtich Armen’ (1906-1972 ; 192p, 1981, Yerevan) is an undiluted pleasure, an honest and intelligent evaluation of an author who produced nothing else as accomplished as his early short novel ‘Heghnar’s Fountain’ published in 1935....

Why we should read… ‘The History of Sasun’ by H Boghossian (360pp, 1985, Yerevan) The history of the Ottoman occupied western Armenian region of Sasun, like the history of 19th and early 20th century Ottoman occupied Armenia is also in part the history of the rise of modern Turkish nationalism that embedded in the Ottoman State set about the destruction of any and all manifestations of Armenian national economic, social and cultural development....

This is the text of a talk I gave on ‘Grigor Narekatsi and the 10-14th Century Armenian Renaissance’. It was delivered on Sunday 13 March at ‘Centre for Armenian Information & Advice’ (CAIA) in London and was one in a series on ‘Armenian History, Culture and Heritage’ enriched by many speakers and participants. I open with thanks to the Centre and to the Centre Director Misak Ohanian in particular for inviting me to speak....

Why We Should Read… ‘The History’ by Arakel Tavrizhetsi (592pp, Sovetagan Grogh, 1988, Yerevan) `The people were desperately in need of a Moses, but none was to be found.’ Arakel Tavrizhetsi (c1590-1670) is the last in the cycle of the great classical Armenian historians. Closing the medieval age his ‘History’ moves in the same groove as that of his sole significant predecessor Tomas Medzopetsi (1378-1446). Covering the first six decades of the 17th century, in Tavrizhetsi too, social, demographic and economic collapse across historical Armenia constitutes a dominant narrative....

Worth a read… Not necessarily masterpieces or artistically outstanding. Yet none will disappoint the lover of literature. Reading them one will always find something of value… Champions of an Armenian national literature Tlgadintsi (Hovhanness Harutyunyan - 1860-1915) was the outstanding figure of that group of pre-Genocide western Armenian writers whose central artistic concern was the lives of the Armenian common people in their native western Armenian provinces of the Ottoman Empire....

Leo’s three volume biography of Krikor Adrzrouni (1845-1892), outstanding warrior editor, battling journalist and founder in 1872 of what was to become the first Armenian daily newspaper, opens with an account of his grandfather Gevorg’s emigration from Ottoman occupied Van to Tsarist occupied Tbilisi and of his various grand business and educational ventures there. It is a prologue that encapsulates the peculiarities of Armenian nation formation that Krikor Ardzrouni’s tumultuous intellectual life and times was to epitomize....

There is in Armenia today something of an exciting literary revival. Its quality and its future are, however, far from secure, with much depending on whether the nation can be salvaged from the hyenas mercilessly devouring it. Nevertheless, and perhaps ironically, one manifestation of this revival is Mesrop Harutyunian’s wonderful short novel - ‘Abcai: circles of dying’ that illuminates the sordid and tragic truths of the late 1980s transition from the Soviet Armenian to the ‘independent’ Third Republic....

Why we should read… ‘History of the House of Ardzroun’ by Tovma Ardzrouni (560pp, 1985, Yerevan, University Press) A fractured and precarious statehood Tovma Ardzrouni’s 10th century ‘History of the House of Ardzroun’ (see Note 1) stands out among classical Armenian histories that usually bear all-encompassing titles such as ‘History of the Armenians’ or just plain ‘History’. Here instead is a proud celebration of a single aristocratic estate, written at perhaps its grandest moment....

Worth a read… Not necessarily masterpieces or artistically outstanding, yet none will disappoint the lover of literature. Reading them one will always find something of value… I. Contemporary recollections of Missak Medzarents and Daniel Varoujean Recollections about famous authors (‘Missak Medzarents and Daniel Varoujean: remembered by their contemporaries’, 1986, Yerevan, 344pp) are of course hugely valuable with multitudes of fact, incident, impression and anecdote serving a richer biographical canvas. But they do need to be read with judgement that distinguishes the authentic from the hagiographic, the honest from those jumping onto fame’s bandwagon, especially those so shameless with cheap claims of having been loved by the famous!...

Worth a read… Not necessarily masterpieces or artistically outstanding. Yet none will disappoint the lover of literature. Reading them one will always find something of value… ‘The Daredevils of Sassoon’ - a superb study and three essays I. Azat Yeghiazaryan’s ‘The Poetics of the Epic “Sasna Dzrer”’ (282pp, 1999, Yerevan) is a welcome reading of the Armenian national epic popularly known in English as ‘The Daredevils of Sassoon’. A literary critic and intellectual of the best sort, Yeghiazaryan with his customary temperate, gentle but erudite and perceptive intelligence draws out from an artistic and cultural examination those issues that touch on the concerns and the dramas of our own times....

It would be a fitting remembrance of the Genocide, were we to appropriate into a vision of our future the best of the way we lived before 1915. Images of violent oppression and Young Turk Genocide have become central to defining and thereby deeply distorting the historical truth about the life of western Armenian communities under Ottoman occupation. Caravans of nameless deportees doomed to die, piles of skulls and bones sunk in desert sands, corpses strewn across river and rock, bands of emaciated, skin and bone children, survivors with deadened gaze huddled in refugee camps....

From the early 1910s to the early 1930s, short story writer Stepan Zoryan (1889-1967) produced some of the finest portraits of life as it was actually lived by the people of eastern Armenia during what were turbulent decades of unprecedented political upheaval and radical historic transformation; from just before World War One and Genocide to the early Soviet era; from centuries of statelessness and a hundred years of Tsarist colonial domination of what was little more than a Caucasian provincial backwater, to the First and then the Soviet Armenian Republics....

Why we should read… ‘Komitas’ by S Gasparyan (240pp, 1961) ‘Komitas’ by Cecelia Broutian (224pp, 1969) ‘Komitas As He Was’ by Khachig Patigian (432pp, 2002) One Nation, One Music! The uniqueness of Komitas Komitas (1869-1935) was a unique musical genius, a scholar with unrivalled mastery of the history and art of Armenian music, a composer, conductor, pianist, singer and poet, and with formidable mathematical skills, an acute, almost invincible backgammon playing priest to boot!...

PART TWO: Turkish nationalism, Kemal Ataturk and the Armenian question R K Sahakyan’s ‘Turkish-French Relations and Cilicia - 1919-1921’ (328pp, 1970, Yerevan) enables a clearer and more detailed grasp of the character of French-Armenian and French-Turkish relations in post-war Cilicia. As he charts French relations with the rising and eventually triumphant Turkish movement headed by Kemal Ataturk, Sahakyan also, and perhaps most valuably, documents its essentially anti-democratic, reactionary and chauvinist nature....

‘Krikor Ardzrouni: A biography in Three Volumes’ PART TWO Leo’s handsome second and third volumes of Krikor Ardzrouni’s (1845-1892) biography, despite the verbosity for which he alas had a great facility, communicates with force that admirable national democratic ambition and that unswerving devotion to public duty that spurred Ardzrouni on throughout a remarkable and historic journalistic career. Leo displays Ardzrouni’s legacy as it is, strikingly modern, apt to our own 21st century, a measure indeed of how little has changed but how much has to change if we are to secure a future for the Armenian people....

CILICIAN ARMENIANS AND THE GENOCIDE PART ONE: the two-pronged assault on the Armenian nation and people I. Despite its ridiculous title, Shmavon Torosyan’s ‘The National Liberation Movement of Cilician Armenians - 1919-1920’ (371pp, 1987, Yerevan, Armenia) is significant for reminding of an oft neglected but critical dimension of the Armenian Genocide carried out by the Ottoman state and the Young Turks. It is also a vital reminder of the repugnant, revolting, treacherous character of imperial France’s Armenian policy, as repugnant, revolting and treacherous as the British and the Tsarist States....

Worth a read… Not necessarily masterpieces or artistically outstanding. Yet none will disappoint the lover of literature. Reading them one will always find something of value… Stars of the Armenian Enlightenment: Mesrop Taghiatian and Stepannos Nazaryants Leo’s biographies of Mesrop Taghiatian (1803-1858) and Stepannos Nazaryants (1812-1879), published in 1917 and 1902 respectively, (Collected Works, Volume 6, 1987, pp727-853 and pp5-204) remain still timely corrections to a dismal want of knowledge about two important figures of the 19th century Armenian enlightenment....

Worth a read… Not necessarily masterpieces or artistically outstanding. Yet none will disappoint the lover of literature. Reading them one will always find something of value… I. ‘The Arts, Crafts and Everyday Life in Armenian Miniature Painting’ Introduced, prepared and edited by Asdghig Kevorkian (1973, 150pp, 48pp illustrations) Without a study of this fine volume our knowledge of Armenian secular history is poorer by a dozen times at least. Secular social life and reflections of the common people’s daily affairs is almost non-existent in Armenian classical histories, disdained, derided and dismissed as they were by those men of the Church who in large part composed them....

Why we should read… ‘The Armenian National Liberation Movement - 1850-1890’ by M K Nersissian (492pp, 1955, republished 2002, Yerevan) Do not be put off by the fact that M K Nersissian’s ‘The Armenian People’s Struggle against Turkish Despotism - 1850-1890’ was first published in Soviet Armenia, and indeed its writing begun while Stalin was still alive. As an introduction to the emergence and early development of the Armenian National Liberation Movement (ANLM) there is no better volume....

`Then the dear ones of those slain came and saw the incurable wounds of Armenia, and they lamented for the land.' Tovma Medzopetsi’s (1378-1446) ‘History of Tamerlane and His Successors’ (311pp, 1999, Yerevan, Armenia) though little acknowledged is nevertheless critical and indispensable for any proper grasp of the flow of Armenian history. The only significant historian of late 14th and early 15th century Armenia, Medzoptsi presents us with a land fundamentally and irrevocably reconfigured....

Why we should read… ‘Wounds of Armenia’ by Khachadour Abovian (Selected Works, pp720, 1984, Yerevan, Armenia) No education in modern Armenian literature, or society, is complete without a thorough study of this veritable tour de force. Khatchadour Abovian’s ‘Wounds of Armenia’, written in 1841 but published for the first time only in 1858, a full decade after its author’s death, was and remains a seminal novel - artistically, socially and politically....

Why we should read… ‘Family, Honour, Morality’ by Yervant Odian (Selected Works, 796pp, pp5-233, 1956, Armenia) Yervant Odian more famous for his satire ‘Comrade Panchooni’ wrote ‘Family, Honour, Morality’, more than one hundred years ago. It remains today both enjoyable and instructive. A reconstruction of Armenian life in Istanbul during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it is a brutally forthright critique of the corrupt and dissolute Armenian elite that exercised tyranny over the Ottoman capital’s large Armenian community....

Why we should read… Rouben Vorperian: journeys without joy (Library of Armenian Classics, 1981, pp31-120) In Armenian literary life Rouben Vorperian (1870-1931) occupied only a peripheral post. Figures such as Varoujean, Yessayan, Toumanian, Derian and others were as if always at the centre of debate on culture, literature and the nation’s future. Vorperian on the other hand, leaves the impression of residing quietly, on the edge, unnoticed, remote, and this not just metaphorically....

Worth a read … Not necessarily masterpieces or artistically outstanding. Yet none will disappoint the lover of literature. Reading them one will always find something of value# I. VRTANNESS PAPAZIAN - A VIRTUOSO OF THE ARMENIAN SHORT STORY Vrtanness Papazian (1866-1920) is another accomplished short story writer whose reputation has been undone by reckless critics. A fine narrator, at once humorous and cutting, he has an artist’s feel for 19th century Armenian rural life whose class divisions, class exploitation and national oppression he describes in grippingly dramatic developments....

`Yet from your capital if Armenia has no profit, We spit on you and your capital too!' – Rafael Batkanian Rich in statistical data sifted from Tsarist and other records, Khatchadour Dadayan’s ‘The Armenians and Baku - 1850 to 1920’ (pp232, 2006, Noravank Publications, Yerevan) is an illuminating socio-economic history of Armenian capital’s contribution to the development of Baku’s oil industry and to the early industrialisation of the region now known as Azerbaijan....

Why we should read… ‘Parasites’ by Berj Broshian (Collected Works, Volume 2, pp9-212, 1953, Yerevan, Armenia) In its own ramshackle but nevertheless impressive fashion, Berj Broshian’s ‘Parasites’ is a remarkably modern study of the relationship between money and social power in 19th century rural Armenia, manifest concretely as an account of the tyranny of early Armenian financiers and bankers, then known by their proper names of usurers and parasites. With his web extending far and wide Palasan, the novel’s protagonist and ‘chief of all parasites’, amasses huge fortunes....

Why we should read… ‘Ghazaros Aghayan’ by Ardashes Hakobjanyan (496pp, 2007, Stepanakert, Karabagh, Armenia) Honouring another eminent man of Armenian letters Published before the demise of Soviet Armenia, Ardashes Hakobjanyan’s ‘Ghazaros Aghayan’ is, without any abuse of the words, an absorbing and exciting study of an outstanding late 19th/early 20th century educationalist, writer and national activist. Supporting his case with a flourish of convincing quotations, Hakobjanyan successfully rescues Ghazaros Aghayan (1840-1911) from those who would tie him to the wheel of a conservative, Church-centred trend of modern Armenian thought....

Today, in the post-Soviet Third Republic of Armenia Russian, elites once again exercise decisive and corrosive power over critical aspects of Armenian national life. For Russian strategists Armenia is little more than a pawn in their wider Caucasus and regional ambitions. Digging the grave of indigenous economic development, Russian financiers, of course together with other non-Armenian corporations, control large sectors of an already meagre, dependent and decomposing economy. Meanwhile Russian military garrisons stationed in Armenia offer Russian authorities the means to hold the land to ransom and bend the nation to Russian designs....

Why we should read… ‘Pghte’ by Berj Broshian (Selected Works, Volume 2, pp213-429, 1953, Yerevan) A novel within a treasure chest of a Chronicle ‘Pghte’ a 1890 novel by Berj Broshian (1841-1907) is far more than just a valuable catalogue of socio-historical data that some Diaspora critics judge all his fiction to essentially be. To appreciate it correctly, however, one must put aside the often restricting canons of orthodox literary criticism....

Why we should read… ‘Memories and Conversations’ by Nvart Toumanian (336pp, 2009, Yerevan, Armenia) A Daughter’s Conversations with the ‘Poet of All Armenians’ Nvart Toumanian, daughter of poet Hovanness Toumanian, wrote these ‘Memories and Conversations’ with her father inspired in part by her reading of Ekerman’s famous ‘Conversations with Goethe’. The result is a beautiful book. Nvart has communicated something of the grandeur and magnanimity of the ‘Poet of all Armenians’....

Worth a read… Not necessarily masterpieces or artistically outstanding. Yet none will disappoint the lover of literature. Reading them one will always find something of value. I. Reteos Berberian ‘The Armenian Jean Jacques Rousseau’ Reteos Berberian (1848-1907) is another outstanding intellectual and man of letters from the 19th century Armenian revival whose instructive legacy is fast being submerged in the global glut of modern throwaway culture. This 1989 biography by A M Tevoyan (292pp, Yerevan) does something to recover him for us....

Why we should read… ‘Selected Works’ by Hovanness Hovannissian (392pp, Yerevan, Armenia, 1959) For Azat Yeghiazaryan and Family, Always generous with hospitality Always a fount of intellectual inspiration by Eddie Arnavoudian The Urgent Wisdom of Hovanness Hovannissian In his own lifetime poet Hovanness Hovannissian (1864-1929) was universally acclaimed. When his ’lyre first sounded’ writes fellow poet Avetik Issahakian (1875-1957), ’the youthful world was stunned… His poetry brought us the freshness of spring, life and authenticity....

Why we should read… ‘Tigran II and Rome’ by Hagop Manantian (Collected Works, Volume 1, 1977, Armenia) Hakob Manantian removes Tigran II from his ‘Great’ Pedestal Hagop Manantian’s ‘Tigran II and Rome’, first published 70 years ago in Soviet Armenia, remains still one of the most balanced studies of Armenian King Tigran the Great’s extraordinary imperial reign. For a brief period Tigran II, who ruled Armenia from 95 to 55BC, was a major regional power against whom all others, including an aggressive imperialist Rome had to measure themselves....

Why we should read… ‘The Gladzor School of Armenian Miniature Painting’ by AN Avedissian, 200pp, 1971, Yerevan ‘The University of Gladzor’ - by A Abrahamian, 88pp, 1983, Yerevan ‘The University of Gladzor: centre of enlightenment in Medieval Armenia’ by S Arevshadian and A Matevossian, 59pp, 1984, Yerevan ‘The University of Datev’ - by A R Gzoyan, 64pp, 2003, Yerevan November 22, 2010 Science versus Religion: the case of the Medieval Armenian University...

Worth a read Not necessarily masterpieces or artistically outstanding. Yet none will disappoint the lover of literature. Reading them one will always find something of value… THE ART OF BOOK PRINTING THE CHURCH AND ARMENIAN NATION-FORMATION By Eddie Arnavoudian Rafael Ishkhanian was an immensely controversial figure in Soviet era Armenian intellectual circles with his views on the origin and development of the Armenian people remaining subject to bitter, but sometimes still fertile, dispute....

Worth a read August 2010 Not necessarily masterpieces or artistically outstanding. Yet none will disappoint the lover of literature. Reading them one will always find something of value… FINANCING THE ARMENIAN REVOLUTION Though its title suggests comprehensive treatment, Hovik Grigorian’s valuable essay on ‘The Problems of Arming and Financing the Armenian Liberation Struggle’ (pp113, 2004, Yerevan) deals primarily with the most controversial fund raising exercise undertaken by the Armenian National Liberation Movement’s (ANLM)....

PART TWO: THE DREAM OF FREEDOM Hovanness Toumanian could not avoid engagement with the national and social question. After all his beloved creations - Anoush, Maro, Saro, Mossi and scores more - did not live lives bound only by the relations and traditions of local family and community. They carried, in addition, ugly scars and daily-inflicted wounds of Ottoman conquest, Tsarist oppression as well the blight of Armenian feudal and Church exploitation....

Part One: Life and love in the Armenian Highlands In the popular imagination Hovannes Toumanian (1869-1923) is fixed as a genial, humorous and wise teller of folk tales, legends and children’s stories. A wonderfully luminous teller of tales he certainly was. But this is by no means all that he was. With his epic poems, lyrical poetry, quartets, short stories, critical writings and letters Hovannes Toumanian is an artist and writer for all ages and this he is on an altogether unique level....

Worth a read… Not necessarily masterpieces or artistically outstanding. Yet none will disappoint the lover of literature. Reading them one will always find something of value… I. ARANDZAR - A FIRST IN WORLD LITERATURE? Arandzar is another most interesting but now also almost forgotten short story writer whose real name was Missak Kouyoumjian. He was born in 1877 in western Armenia and died in Adana in 1913. It is a fact that a good writer need not be honored with labels such as ‘genius’, ’talented’, ‘brilliant’, and so on and so forth to be readable beyond their day....

Why we should read… `The Dark Valley: Short Stories by Aksel Bakunts (Translated by Nairi Hakhverdi, 149pp, 2008, Taderon Press, London) Part One: An artistic history of the Armenian peasantry I. THE ART OF THE DARK VALLEY ‘Almost untouched and wild’ Aksel Bakunts’s (1899-1937) Dark Valley resembles ‘one of those forgotten places from an era when mankind did not exist and the fossilised dinosaur felt as free as the bear does in our days (p13, p140)’....

Worth a read: Not necessarily masterpieces or artistically outstanding. Yet none will disappoint the lover of literature or history. Reading them one will always find something of value… Marg 9, 2010 I CHURCH MONASTERY AND PRIEST IN THE ARMENIAN NATIONAL LIBERATION MOVEMENT ‘Vartan of Khannassor’ was written as a memoir by an 19th/20th century Armenian guerilla fighter whose real name was Sarkis Mehrabian. Edited and polished by Garo Sassooni it makes exciting reading and is of tremendous value as supplement to any history of the Armenian national liberation movement and in particular of the role of the Church in this movement....

Worth a read: Not necessarily masterpieces or artistically outstanding. Yet none will disappoint the lover of literature or history. Reading them one will always find something of value… I. THE PLIGHT OF ARMENIANS UNDER GEORGIAN RULE In historical times the Tchavakhk region now just beyond the north Armenian border was one of the nine districts of the northern Armenian province of Gugark. But, since 1918 and against the will of its overwhelming Armenian majority constituting 92% of the population, it has been annexed to Georgia....

The end of Soviet Armenia dealt a heavy blow to the publishing industry. The republication of Armenian classics slumped. So did print runs for new books. But the lifting of restrictions led to a flood of new titles. Many are of no value. But there are plenty that, even when hugely controversial, widen and even create new space for debate and discussion of the manifold issues confronting men and women in the 21st century....

I. LEVON SHANT AND THE DRAMA OF POLITICAL AMBITION AND MATERNAL REVENGE Levon Shant’s (1869 - 1951) dramatic output is by no means the negligible quality that Hagop Oshagan uncompromisingly judged it to be. Novelist Stepan Zorian who had perhaps a more accurate evaluation, thought that Shant’s ‘The Princess of the Fallen Castle’, (Selected Works, Yerevan, 1968) though of indubitable value, could not yet be compared with his ‘The Emperor’ that he considered one of the few flawless masterpieces of modern Armenian literature....

BAROUYR SEVAK Part One: the poet as political activist `I am a postcard, addressed to the world! Do not envelope me, do not shut and seal me!' Barouyr Sevak (1924-1972) has been acclaimed as one of the great Armenian poets of the 20th century. But he has also been judged a mere versifying propagandist and even a miserable plagiarist. Not surprisingly partisan dispute continues well into the post-Soviet age. A roaring celebration of human creativity and passions, Sevak’s poetry is at the same time a forthright assault on the moral corruption of all social elites that distort the existences of men and women, suppressing their creativity and reducing them to passivity....

Let there always tears or laughter in your heart When it is silent, it becomes a dark death Vahan Derian (1885-1920) was a path breaking and vastly influential Armenian poet. With poetry of unprecedented gentleness and tenderness he refined eastern Armenian to an exquisite perfection, echoed with precision the pains of the lonely and alienated individual and registered the tragic disintegration of an oppressed Armenian people and nation. Vahan Derian was simultaneously a dedicated revolutionary, indeed a communist, a Bolshevik, a Soviet delegate with Leon Trotsky at Brest Litovsk and the first to translate Lenin’s ‘State and Revolution’ into Armenian....

HISTORY OF THE ARMENIANS Why we should read… ‘History of the Armenians’ by Giragos Gantzagetzi (352pp, University of Yerevan, 1982, Armenia) Giragos Gantzagetzi (c1200-1273) wrote this ‘History of the Armenians’ when he was nearing his 70th year. Remarkably, despite the war and the upheaval of the times he had available to him almost the entire body of classical Armenian, and a great deal of international literature too, preserved, sometimes in cave libraries by the stubborn efforts of a dedicated Church intelligentsia....

The end of Soviet Armenia dealt a heavy blow to the Armenian publishing industry. The republication of Armenian classics slumped, as did print runs for new books. But the lifting of restrictions led to a flood of new titles. Many are of no value. But there are plenty that, even when hugely controversial, widen and even create new space for debate and discussion of the manifold issues confronting men and women in the 21st century....

I. HOVANNESS TLGOURATZI (ca 1360-1440) - POET OF LOVE THAT IS FLESH AND BLOOD The Armenian medieval poets were not prolific or if they were, little appears to have survived from their work. (‘Appears’ is here appropriate as there remain thousands of manuscripts still to be researched for possible poetic discoveries) Together with the smallness of the body of poetry, certain common features they share - the underlined secularisation of content, the predominance of homage to nature and love, and that in idioms that draw heavily on and are even defined by aspects of commonly inherited popular folk song and poetry - all these seem to dim the distinctions between the poets - without of course reducing the pleasure in their reading....

Worth a read February 2009 Not necessarily masterpieces or artistically outstanding. Yet none will disappoint the lover of literature. Reading them one will always find something of value… FOUR GIANTS OF ARMENIAN INTELLECT AND LITERATURE A. The intellectual legacy of 12th and 13th century Armenian Cilicia K. H. Krikorian’s ‘Socio-Philosophical Thought in Armenian Cilicia’ (176pp, 1979, Yerevan) introduces us to the three dominant intellectual figures of 12th-13th century Armenian Cilicia - Nerses Shnorhali, Krikor Dgha and Nerses Lambronetzi....

I. FRIK (C 1230-1310) AN EARLY SINGER OF SOCIAL PROTEST One is not geared to expect much from Armenian medieval poetry. The Mongol crushing of the Armenian Bagratouni royal court in the 11th century and the predominance in Armenian life of a declining Church that had made its accommodation with conquering invaders left little room for the flourish of art and culture. Art however, as an effort of the imagination and as a concentration of energy and intellect, has a way of overcoming, at least sometimes, objective limitations and of flourishing outside the sphere of securely privileged elites....

LONDON, UK ‘Daredevils of Sasun: Poetics of an epic’ (263pp, 2008, Mazda, translated into English by Peter Cowe) is a timely and erudite study of the Armenian epic born of the 7/8th century resistance to Arab occupation. On Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 October its English edition was launched first in London and then in Oxford by its author Professor Azat Yeghiazaryan Director of the Manuk Abeghyan Institute of Literature of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia....

A TASTE OF ARMENIAN DRAMA - PART ONE I. GABRIEL SOUNTOUGIAN’S ‘BEBO’ AND THE AFFIRMATION OF HUMAN DIGNITY Gabriel Sountougian’s (1825-1912) ‘Bebo, a comedy in Three Acts’ (Selected Works Volume 2, 1973, Yerevan, Armenia) written in 1857 is the earliest of those contributions to the modern Armenian dramatic tradition that retain their value for today. A passionate affirmation of the dignity of all men and women it makes the case for honour and equality as conditions for decent human relations....

Why we should read… ‘The Chronicle’ by Mateos Ourhayetzi (376pp, Armenian University, Yerevan, 1973) ‘That was the end of the land of the Armenians’ (Ourhayetzi, Chronicles, p99) Mateos Ourhayetzi’s (circa1050 - circa1144) ‘The Chronicle’ accounts for nearly two centuries of Armenian history - 952 AD - 1137 AD - and reconstructs an age of destructive transition from the collapse of the Bagratouni dynasty to the subsequent ruination of historical Armenia. Beyond this Ourhayetzi also traces the rise of new Armenian principalities in Cilicia from which there emerged later a new Armenian monarchy....

Why we should read… You Rejoice My Heart by Kemal Yalcin English translation by Paul Bessemer (383pp, 2007, Tekeyan Cultural Association in collaboration with Gomidas Institute) (Distributed by the Gomidas Institute (http://www.gomidas.org/)) March 10, 2008 ‘You Rejoice My Heart’ by Turkish poet and novelist Kemal Yalcin is a remarkable record of his journey among Turkey’s hidden Armenians.To be properly appreciated however, in the first instance it must be read without reference to contemporary conflicts, debates or animosities that dog Armenian-Turkish relations....

Why we should read… ‘From the History of Armenian Social Trends’ by Vahan Rshdouni (560pp, Yerevan, 1956) The continuously growing economic inter-dependence of nations has not, as some had predicted, done away with the nation state as the principle form of international political organisation. Nor has it lead to the undermining of nationalism as a mainstream political ideology. Quite the contrary today nationalism in various parts of the world appears to be as forceful as it has been in the past and even more so, sometimes perhaps as a defensive reaction to the overwhelming power of the larger nations that dictate the direction of economic globalisation....

Reading a particular poet is always an exciting adventure, sometimes demanding and painful, in places disappointing even. But it is always rewarding, invigorating and enchanting. As thrilling however are detours that are inspired by images, phrases and even whole lines that appear to be almost identical to ones we have come across in other poets. A case in point is Vahan Derian whose imagery and turns of phrase takes us to Bedros Tourian, Missak Medzarents and Hovanness Toumanian....

Worth a read… Not necessarily masterpieces or artistically outstanding. Yet none will disappoint the lover of literature. Reading them one will always find something of value… I. SHIRVANZADE - MEMOIRS AND TRAVEL NOTES (Selected Works, Volume 5, 1985, Yerevan) Shirvanzade’s work constitutes an honest and uncompromising artistic examination of the consequences of oppressive social, national and individual relations. Despite his detractors, who cannot reconcile themselves to his democratic and humanist nationalism, almost everything that this fine novelist wrote retains both artistic and intellectual value....

LONDON, UK On a cold and rainy November 21 2007 Wednesday evening some 40 people sat in London’s Gulbenkian Hall to listen to and watch Rouben Galichian’s excellent talk and slide show launching his ‘Countries South of the Caucasus in Medieval Maps - Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan’ (220pp, with 82 maps and 24 details mostly in full colour). Spiced with wonderful historical anecdotes, the author’s tales charmed and educated his audience, urging them to join him in an enterprise of enlightening Europeans about Armenia’s history that is revealed through medieval maps of the world....

Worth a read… Not necessarily masterpieces or artistically outstanding. Yet none will disappoint the lover of literature. Reading them one will always find something of value… I. TIGRAN THE GREAT - THE ONE AND ONLY ARMENIAN IMPERIAL TYRANT In 2005 on the occasion of the 2100th anniversary of Tigran the Great’s (born c140BC - died c55BC) ascension to the Artashessian throne in 95BC, various conferences were organised to discuss the historical significance of what was the only Armenian imperial experience....

Why we should read… ‘The Book of Lamentations’ by Grigor Narekatzi (Editors - B Khatchatryan and A Ghazinian, 1124pp, Yerevan, 1985) For Asbed Bedrossian, tireless manager and editor of the invaluable and irreplaceable Groong/Armenian News/Network. Without Asbed’s early stubborn invitations and his subsequent wise guidance and critical acumen I would not have had the immense pleasure of gazing upon some the treasures of Armenian literature and sharing my impressions with who so ever wishes to do so....

Why we should read… `Khoja Capital: the social & political role of merchant capital among Armenians' by Leo (373pp, 1934, Yerevan, Armenia) PART TWO: THE INDEPENDENT LORDS OF KARABAGH AND THE WARS OF 1722 - 1728 A substantial portion of this work is devoted to the early 18th century Armenian uprising in eastern Armenia, led most famously in Karabagh by David Beg. In his evaluation Leo offers as opinion some of the more preposterous Stalinist prejudices of the 1930s....

Why we should read… `Khoja Capital: the social & political role of merchant capital among Armenians' by Leo (373pp, 1934, Yerevan, Armenia) PART ONE: Armenian émigré capital and the character of Armenian nationalism Leo’s ‘Khoja Capital: the social & political role of merchant capital among Armenians’, for all its gross faults, including the most atrocious 1930s orthography (which of course was not Leo’s personal responsibility) is an exceedingly valuable history of Armenian commerce in the 17 and 18th centuries....

LONDON, UK At a gathering in London’s Armenian House on Wednesday 9 May 2007 Bob Biderman Managing Editor of Black Apollo Press launched the publication of an English language edition of Gougen Mahari’s (1903-1969) controversial 1966 masterpiece ‘The Burning Orchards’. To describe the event as a publishing phenomenon is no exaggeration. For the first time it makes available to millions of readers an epic novel from of one of the most outstanding 20th century Armenian writers....

Why we should read… ‘To the Desert: pages from my diary’ by Vahram Dadrian English language edition translated from the Armenian by Agop J Hacikyan, (408pp, Taderon Press, London, 2006) Anyone interested in the debate on the Armenian Genocide has good reason to say a big thank you to Agop J Hacikyan for translating and to Ara Sarafian from Taderon Press for editing and publishing this English language edition of Vahram Dadrian’s ‘To the Desert: pages from my diary’....

Worth a read… Not necessarily masterpieces or artistically outstanding. Yet none will disappoint the lover of literature. Reading them one will always find something of value… I. HAGOP BARONIAN’S ‘THE HONOURABLE BEGGARS’ ALIVE AND PRACTICING TODAY Whatever any final judgement critics may make on the artistic quality of Hagop Baronian’s (1843-1891) ‘The Honourable Beggars’ (Selected Works, pp5-104, 1987, Yerevan, Armenia), they must still account for the immense and long-standing popularity of this story of social parasites, hypocrites, poseurs and cheats flocking around wealthy Abisoghom Agha to relieve him of the contents of his wallet....

Why we should read… ‘Longing’ by Anahit Sahinian (Selected Works in 3 Volumes, Volume 2, 496pp, Yerevan, 1988) I. ‘Longing’ is the second volume of Anahit Sahinian’s trilogy of Soviet Armenian life that stretches from the 1930s to the late 1950s. The main stage has now moved from the ‘Crossroads’ of urban Yerevan (see ANN/Groong - The Critical Corner, 24 May 2005) to rural Armenia. Sahinian here constructs a panoramic overview fixed with rich detail, particularity and authentic characters....

Why we should read… ‘Collected Works’ by Bedros Tourian (Library of Armenian Classics, 1981, Yerevan, 456pp) LOVE’S REVOLT Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. – Dylan Thomas The Romantic label has been readily wrapped around Bedros Tourian (1852-1872). But this enchanting poet is of no school but his own. He died before he was 21, producing only the slimmest volume of poetry: altogether 43 pieces, including mere verse written for the patriotic occasion, as well as drafts and variants....

PART THREE: An Armenian communist as world poet [ Review PART I | Review PART II ] Yeghishe Charents’s poetry (here Collected Works Volume IV, Yerevan, 1968) has a compelling quality, fashioned as it is with driving energy and with a spirit of bold confidence that usually accompanies human endeavour only at its freshest. Whether he writes about his life and loves, about Armenian nationalism, the Bolshevik Revolution, about the degradation of culture during the rise of Stalinism or about the act of artistic creativity itself, he pours into his work all the contents of his eternally tempestuous soul and all the inexhaustible zest that he had for life....

Why we should read… ‘Antranig and His Times - Volume II’ by Hratchig Simonian (832pp, Gaysa Publishers, Yerevan, 1996) ‘Not to know anything about Antranig is equivalent to knowing nothing about one’s own modern (Armenian) history.’ So wrote the great 20th century poet Barouyr Sevak in a 1963 article urging Soviet Armenian historians to restore Antranig to his rightful place in history. Hratchig Simonian’s two-volume biography ‘Antranig and His Times’ leaves us no excuse not to know....

Worth a read… Not necessarily masterpieces or artistically outstanding. Yet none will disappoint the lover of literature. Reading them one will always find something of value… THE ARMENIAN-GEORGIAN WAR OF 1918 Armenian-Georgian relations figure hardly at all in public discussion. Yet in their enduringly fraught character they have been and to this day remain important to the fashioning of Armenian nationhood and are also significant for the future stability of the Armenian state and the region as a whole....

Worth a read… Not necessarily masterpieces or artistically outstanding. Yet none will disappoint the lover of literature. Reading them one will always find something of value… BERJ BROSHIAN: 19TH CENTURY ARMENIAN NOVELIST: CONSERVATIVE OR PROGRESSIVE? Nineteenth century Armenian novelist Berj Broshian (1837-1907) continues to suffer a terrible reputation. In his own day critics such as Leo derided him as a dyed-in-the-wool conservative with no artistic talent. In the thirties of the Soviet era crude Marxists condemned his novels for failing to depict the Armenian peasantry as a ‘revolutionary class’....

Why we should read… ‘I Want to Live: Poems of Shushanik Kurghinian’ Translated by Shushan Avagyan, AIWA Press, 2005 ‘Shushanik Kurghinian: Selected Works’ (Yerevan, 1982) FREE SPIRIT, REBEL AND REVOLUTIONARY `Soar high rather than walk, no matter that you may fall. Those that fall from heights never lie prostrate for long.’ (p339) Shushanik Kurghinian (1876-1927) was an outstanding poet. But she has received little or no recognition. Although also a socialist with some stirring poems of labour’s rebellion to her name, she remained a dim star even in the Soviet era....

PART FOUR: ‘Pagan Songs’ and the art of living `Only he can grasp the enchanted Dream Who drinks both of the incense and the muck of life Who is a Being kneaded both with light and mud A Being, also, who is created with a tear.’ (p324) ‘Pagan Songs’ (Selected Works, Yerevan, 1984) was the third and last volume of poetry that Daniel Varoujean was able to personally prepare for publication in 1912, three years before his murder in 1915....

Worth a read… Not necessarily masterpieces or artistically outstanding. Yet none will disappoint the lover of literature. Reading them one will always find something of value. I. FABRICATED HISTORY IN THE SERVICE OF PAN-TURKISH CHAUVINISM Some books are valuable for outlining a problem or exposing some dangerous intellectual subterfuge even if they fail to give adequate rebuttal to the arguments they seek to challenge. One such book is ‘The Falsification of Armenian History in Modern Turkish Historiography’ (192pp, 1995, Yerevan) by Manuel Zulalian....

PART TWO: On the sober gentlemen of Armenian nationalism [ Review PART I | Go to PART III ] Yeghishe Charents came of age in an era of mass slaughter, of World War I and the Armenian genocide. By the time he was 21 the Young Turk government had murdered one and a half million Armenians and emptied western Armenia of all its indigenous Armenian population. Of Armenia there remained only a rump in its eastern sector, a tiny stretch of arid rock upon which was founded the first independent Armenian state for some 600 years....

Why we should read… ‘Jalaleddin’ by Raffi (Collected Works, Volume 4, pp7-63, Yerevan, 1984) Raffi’s literary talent is evident in this his, very first short novel, an excellent English translation of which by Donald Abcarian will hopefully be available soon. In Jalaleddin Raffi already proves himself a master of the exciting adventure story that is at the same time a serious piece of political agitprop delivered to high intellectual and artistic standards....

PART ONE: Of human potential, human solidarities and the loss of innocence [ Go to PART II | Go to PART III ] On the 11th of July 2005 and always, for Vahe Berberian human and humane, spirited and gifted, pained yet light, colour and laughter giving soul brother to all good people. ‘I am everyone and what is in everyone, is in me also.’ –Krikor of Narek `Ones self I sing, a simple separate person, Yet utter the word Democratic, the word En-Masse....

Why we should read… ‘Cilician Armenian Miniature Painting - XII-XIII Centuries’ by L A Azarian (300pp,16 Colour & 134 B/W illustrations, Yerevan, 1964) Though certain of his methodological and aesthetic principles are debatable, Soviet era art historian L. R. Azarian’s ‘Cilician Armenian Miniature Painting’ makes very satisfying reading, and for the untutored amateur one can even say exciting reading. Those wishing to contest particular judgements and evaluations of his are free to enter the fray....

Why we should read… ‘Crossroads’ by Anahit Sahinian (Selected Works in 3 Volumes, Volume 1, 608pp, Yerevan, 1987) I. Contemporary Armenian novelist Anahit Sahinian, now 88, is much underrated. In discussions of modern Armenian literature her work is almost completely ignored. Yet ‘Crossroads’, her first major novel published in 1946, is an accomplished work: intellectually stimulating and sometimes even bold in its critical overview of life in Soviet Armenia during the late 1930s and 1940s....

Why we should read… ‘Murad’s Journey’ by Zabel Yessayan and Murad (96pp, NB-Press, Yerevan, 1990) ‘MURAD’S JOURNEY’- A PAINFUL WITNESS TO THE 1915 ARMENIAN GENOCIDE Entitled simply ‘Murad’s Journey’, this booklet is amongst the most moving and most chilling of witnesses to the 1915 Armenian Genocide - a sobering, shocking, troubling account of human barbarism and the process of dehumanisation that it sets in train. The story is narrated by Sebastatzi Murad and recorded by Zabel Yessayan....

Worth a read… Not necessarily masterpieces or artistically outstanding. Yet none will disappoint the lover of literature. Reading them one will always find something of value& ON THE IDEOLOGY OF MODERN TURKISH NATIONALISM Published in 1926 Zarevant’s ‘For A United and Independent Turania’ was the first substantial Armenian language study of the ideology of modern Turkish nationalism. It needs to be said at the outset that this valuable volume is rather diminished by an absence of adequate referencing and citations whether this be to prove a point or establish a view....

Why we should read… ‘Antranig and His Times’ by Hratchig Simonian (752pp, Gaysa Publishers, Yerevan, 1996) For Donald Abcarian, translator of Raffi and upright thinker whose help here and elsewhere is valued immensely. February 28, 2005 By Eddie Arnavoudian This hefty first volume of Hratchig Simonian’s two-volume biography of Antranig is no hagiography. The author pulls no punches as he considers the life and times of this most extraordinary Armenian guerrilla commander; ‘warts and all’ as Oliver Cromwell put it....

PART THREE: The poetry of righteous rebellion `There will be a special page in the book of life for the men who have crawled back from the grave. This page will tell of utter defeat, ruin, passivity, and subjection in one breath, and in the next, overwhelming victory and fulfilment…' – George Jackson Soledad Brother ‘The Heart of the Nation’ (Selected Works, pp63-206, Yerevan, 1984) was Varoujean’s second volume of poetry....

Why we should read… ‘The Universal History’ by Asoghig (456pp, Armenian University, Yerevan, 2000) ‘So peace and prosperity reigned in our land of Armenia.’ (Asoghig, The Universal History) Tenth century historian Asoghig, known also as Stepanos Asoghig of Daron, offers the reader a view of the peak of Bagratouni power and glory. Following Traskhanagerdtzi (The Critical Corner, 1 August 2004) Asoghig takes the story of this new Armenian royal dynasty to the start of the 11th century, to 1004....

Why we should read… ‘Selected Works’ by Shirvanzade (368pp, Yerevan, Armenia, 1982) Armenian novelist Shirvanzade (1858-1935) has perhaps been treated with undeserved disdain, by myself among others! This at least is suggested by a reading of three works published in this collection, a novel ‘Namus’, a play ‘In the Name of Honour’ and a long short story, ‘The Artist’. I. ‘Namus’ (1884) was Shirvanzade’s first novel. Its treatment of some of the consequences of the primitive cult of honour that was the cause of so many domestic tragedies in late 19th century Armenian communities is impressive....

Worth a read… Not necessarily masterpieces or artistically outstanding. Yet none will disappoint the lover of literature. Reading them one will always find something of value. I. ‘IN THE FURNACE OF LIFE’ - THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN ARMENIAN NOVELIST The first volume of Shirvanzade’s autobiography ‘In the Furnace of Life’ (Shirvanzade, Selected Works, Volume 5, pp6-223, Yerevan, 1988) is studded with wise and witty observation that evokes something of the conditions of the time and brings to life some of the men and women who contributed to Armenian politics and culture in late 19th century eastern Armenia and the Caucasus....

Worth a read… Not necessarily masterpieces or artistically outstanding. Yet none will disappoint the lover of literature. Reading them one will always find something of value. I BEDROS TOURIAN - POET, INTELLECTUAL AND NATIONAL ACTIVIST A. S. Sharourian’s measured and erudite enthusiasm for his subject makes this critical biography (‘Bedros Tourian: his life and work’, 362pp, 1972, Yerevan) of 19th century Armenian poet Bedros Tourian a pleasant and educative read. Tourian’s literary reputation was established in his lifetime (1851-1872), acquired critical acclaim during after 1890 and has never since flagged....

Worth a read… Not necessarily masterpieces or artistically outstanding. Yet none will disappoint the lover of literature. Reading them one will always find something of value. I AN ARMENIAN INTELLECTUAL IN EXILE - VASKEN SHOUSHANIAN’S ‘DIARY’ Vazken Shoushanian’s riveting ‘Diary’ (1999, 412pp, Yerevan) blends personal confession with political commentary, literary criticism, journalism, the short story and the dramatic dialogue. Free of self-delusion and a self-praise it touches on both universal human concerns that are characteristic of all Shoushanian’s work and on issues of Armenian politics and culture where he communicates a mature sense of national pride untainted by preposterous pretension or chauvinist excess....

Why we should read… Bishop Sebeos’ ‘History’ (288pp, Antelias, Beirut, 1990) In the annals of Armenian history, 7th century Bishop Sebeos’ chronicle records a particularly bleak period. After Khazar Barpetzi’s 5th century ‘History’ that closes the classical Golden Age of Armenian writing, we have no other historian until Sebeos who, writes his own in 661AD, and covers in detail the period between 589 and 661. Sebeos’ voice is radically different to that of his predecessors....

Why we should read… ‘History of the Armenian People’ by Hovanness Traskhanagerdtzi (400pp, University of Yerevan, 1996, Armenia) Hovanness Traskhanagerdtzi (c850-929AD) was an altogether remarkable historian of an altogether remarkable age - the 9th and 10th century re-establishment of an independent Armenian feudal state after nearly four centuries of statelessness. As well as being an erudite scholar, Traskhanagerdtzi was also the leader of the Armenian Church and an energetic politician centrally involved in the life of the times, working to repair inter-Armenian dissension or seeking to stay the hand of renewed Arab aggression....

Why we should read… ‘The Burning Orchards’ by Gourgen Mahari (624pp, Yerevan, 1966) A rude fate has been fashioned for Gourgen Mahari’s (1903-1969) impressive 1966 novel of pre-1915 Armenian Van, capital of the historic Armenian province of Vasbourakan, set by the lake of the same name and now in Turkey. When it was first published, ‘The Burning Orchards’ fired furious controversy as its depiction of Van’s Armenian revolutionary movement and its armed resistance to genocide offended both patriots and nationalists....

Why we should read… ‘The Armenian Pantheon’ by Professor Levon Katcheryan 284pp, USA, 2001 A History of Armenian Pagan Deities Professor Levon Khatcheryan’s ‘The Armenian National Pantheon’, a comprehensive history of the major pre-Christian Armenian pagan deities, fills a gap. Examining the religious institutions, organisations, temples, ceremonial traditions and rituals that developed around Armenian pagan gods, he shows them forming a broad and complex cultural, ideological and political foundation for Armenian society....

‘Essential Elements for Armenia’s National Security Doctrine: Part I’ Armen Aivazian’s ‘Essential Elements for Armenia’s National Security Doctrine’ is a welcome and thoughtful contribution to an urgently needed discussion about the present and the future of the Armenian people, the post-Soviet Armenian state and the Armenian nation. Accounting for the political, military and economic realities of the post-Soviet world order, Aivazian argues the case for a powerful and independent socio-political and economic-military strategy that could secure the long-term survival and development of the Armenian state whose existence is threatened by hostile neighbours and by global political developments....

Why we should read… ‘XXth Century Armenian Literature: issues and authors’ Azad Yeghiazarian is a relatively little known name in Armenian literary circles. Yet he is an impressive critic, judging from the essays gathered in his “20th Century Armenian Literature: issues and authors”. Published in 2002 this is cheering work by someone who has evidently resisted the ephemeral fads and fashions of post-modern and often meaningless aesthetic theories. Yeghiazarian’s essays are examples of fine balance and considered discussion....

Why we should read… ‘Hadji Murad’ by Hagop Oshagan ‘101 Years’ - a trilogy of Hadji Murad (pp7-95), Hadji Abdullah and Suleyman Effendi (471pp, Antelias, Lebanon, 1996) A FICTIONAL SOCIOLOGY OF THE ARMENIAN BANDIT AND FEDAYI ‘Hadji Murad’, a short novel written by Hagop Oshagan in 1933, is a compelling tale of love and passion, rural banditry and nationalist politics in the late 19th century Ottoman Empire. A work of many and diverse themes it yields generously to examination, contemplation and consideration....

Why we should read… “Revolutionary Figures” by Antranig Chalabian (463pp, USA, 1991) Antranig Chalabian’s ‘Revolutionary Figures’ (also available in English) collects together short biographies of legendary Armenian guerrillas (Mihran Damadian, Hambardzum Boyadjian, Serob Aghbiur, Hrair-Dzhoghk, Gevorg Chavush, Sebastatsi Murad and Nikol Duman) that together constitute a critical and thought provoking introduction to many aspects of the 19th century Armenian revolutionary movement. They range across its internal organisation, its tactics and strategy, the struggle between its opposing trends, its relation to the population, the issue of alliances with Kurdish and Turkish dissidents, the role of the Church, as well as elements of the broad social and political context for the movement’s development, successes and failures....

Why we should read… “The Armenian Church at the Crossroads of the 18th Century Armenian Liberation Movement” by Armen Aivazian (344pp, Yerevan, Armenia, 2003) The Armenian National Liberation and the Armenian Church The Armenian Church has had a deservedly bad reputation having been, through the centuries, a rather poor guardian of the real interests of its flock. But as with the sections of the French Church during the French Revolution, or the 1960s Catholic Church in Latin America, sections of the Armenian Church also produced individuals and groups who made outstanding contributions to the Armenian people’s history....

PART TWO: THE CELEBRATION OF FREE LABOUR AS CREATION [Part One is available here.] When Daniel Varoujean was arrested in Istanbul by the Young Turk government on 24 April 1915 he was working on a cycle of poems to be entitled ‘The Song of Bread’. What would have been his fourth volume of poetry was never to be completed. Not released from captivity, Varoujean was murdered four months later, on 26 August 1915....

Whatever page you open from Siamanto, it is always Siamanto - noble, magnificent, heroic. But on every page of Varoujean you discover a new Varoujean, a Varoujean with a novel light, a new strength, an original beauty.' – Karekin Khazhak If around me all is darkness I shall flare and sparkle for my fellow men and women Hurling myself to the ground I’ll block the path of despair. – Baryour Sevak...

Why we should read… “The Humble Ones” by Hagop Oshagan, 616pp Selected Works, 1998, Antelias, Lebanon) I. THE HUMBLE ONES Among many Armenian literary critics Hagop Oshagan’s (1883-1948) stature as a novelist is unrivalled and he is frequently named in the company of Balzac, Stendhal, Dostoyevsky, Proust and Joyce. Such comparisons are not mere patriotic bombast. Once the reader has mastered Oshagan’s unique Armenian style, s/he cannot fail to be dazzled by the remarkable skill with which he mines the deepest recesses of the human soul and brings to light the vast contents of its driven, troubled and tormented psyche....

Why we should read… “An American Physician in Turkey” by Clarence D Ussher, 190pp “The Tragedy of Bitlis” by Grace H Knapp, 110pp (Both Sterndale Classic titles, 2002, England) Sterndale Classics is a relatively new imprint specialising in republishing contemporary and eyewitness accounts of life and politics in the late 19th/early 20th century Ottoman Empire particularly as they relate to the Armenian experience. Edited by Ara Sarafian, from the Gomidas Institute and the ‘Armenian Forum’ Journal, the series serves a valuable purpose independent of the merits or otherwise of individual titles....

Why we should read… ‘The Life of Mashtots’ by Goryoun Armenian State Publishers, 180pp. Yerevan, 1962. Without the Armenian alphabet that was developed by Mesrop Mashtots in the opening decade of the 5th century it is highly unlikely that Armenians would have survived with their distinct cultural tradition and national identity. This ‘Life of Mesrop Mashtots’ by his pupil Goryoun, written sometime between 443 and 451AD, is therefore a unique document....

Why we should read… ‘The Fool’ by Raffi Sovetakan Grogh, Collected Works volume 4 Yerevan, Armenia, 1984 This effort does not pretend to substitute for Donald Abcarian’s excellent overview of both ‘The Fool’ and Raffi’s work in general. These are available in the preface to his English translation of ‘The Fool’ (Komitas Institute, 2000) and on Groong’s ‘The Critical Corner’ (See “Raffi – An Overview” (June 24, 2002) and “Raffi – A Biography” (December 9, 2002) By Donald Abcarian....

Why we should read… ‘Srpouhi Dussap - her life and work’ 252pp, Armenian State University, Yerevan, 1963 Novelist, democrat and feminist Soviet era critical biographies of 19th and early 20th century Armenian writers whilst generally of great value are rarely inspiring. A S Sharourian’s volume on Srpouhi Dussap is an exception. One cannot but delight in this story of an intellectual and writer who born in 1841 to a well-to-do Istanbul Armenian family and married to a local Frenchman, went on to become the foremost modern Armenian feminist and the first Armenian woman novelist as well as a prominent figure of the Armenian national revival....

Worth a read Not necessarily masterpieces or artistically outstanding, yet none will disappoint the lover of literature. Reading them one will always find something of value… THE SALVAGING OF AN AUTHENTIC ARMENIAN MUSICAL TRADITION These 160 collected Letters by Komitas, (224pp, 2000, Yereven, Museum of Literature and Art, edited and introduced by Orphelia Garabedian and Tzoghig Pekarian) peppered with wit and humour as well as passion and anger, provide a fascinating and illuminating insight into his ambitions to salvage and develop an authentic Armenian musical tradition....

Why we should read… ‘The Art of Manuscript Painting in Vaspourakan’ ‘Knowledge Publishers, Yerevan, 1997, Hravart Hakobian is animated by a single aim. With stylistic features distinguishing them radically from manuscript paintings and art in the rest of Armenia, Vaspourakan’s 10-14th century heritage is often regarded as essentially derivative of Arabic influences and particularly that of the Baghdad school. Hakobian labours to refute this argument that in his view diminishes the intrinsic value of Vaspourakan’s Armenian art....

Worth a read Not necessarily masterpieces or artistically outstanding, yet none will disappoint the lover of literature. Reading them one will always find something of value… THE POETIC VOICE OF ARMENIAN NATIONAL LIBERATION Soviet Armenian literary critic Hrand Tamrazian, who died in 2001, possessed a bold imagination informed by an unusually cultivated aesthetic sensibility and a refined socio-historical vision. So his commentaries on particular authors or literary periods are also independent and passionate statements on the artistic and historical controversies of his days....

Why we should read… ‘Dajgahayk - the Armenian Question’ 165pp, 1881, republished 1983, Tehran ‘The Western Armenian Liberation Struggle’ In defence of the Armenian National Liberation Movement For Souren, Sona, Daron, Raffi and all the children of Hayastan and all the children of all the world. May they appreciate, respect and emulate all those who dedicated their lives to the ideal of liberation and justice… Armenian News Network / Groong December 30, 2002...

Why we should read… ‘Vahan Tekeyan’ - A confession in poetry Selected Works (Library of Armenian Classics, pp239-364, 1981, Yerevan) Opening his autobiographical ‘Confessions’ Jean Jacques Rousseau writes ‘I have resolved on an enterprise which has no precedent and which once complete will have no imitator. My purpose is to display to my kind a portrait in every way true to nature, and the man I shall portray will be my self’....

Worth a read Neither masterpiece nor particularly outstanding, yet none will bore the lover of literature. Reading them, one will always find something of value… LIFE IN STALINIST LABOUR CAMPS An Armenian writer-prisoner’s view Gourgen Mahari’s ‘Blossoming Barbed Wire’ (Collected Works Volume 5, 1989) is a riveting memoire-novel of his time in Siberian labour camps in the Soviet Union during the 1930s and 1940s. Mahari reconstructs the monstrous apparatus of repression with characteristic wit and humour and unfolds the routine of everyday life through the tragic tale of love between an unskilled Azerbaijani worker, Mamo, and Lyudmila, a talented German artist....

Why we should read… ‘A critical look at the 1915 Genocide’ Garo Sassouni’s pamphlet ‘A Critical Look at the 1915 Genocide’, written in 1930 and revised on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Genocide, affords us a rare opportunity to consider seriously the role of the Armenian national leadership in the years leading up to the 1915 Genocide. Sassouni’s conclusions are, and not surprisingly, debatable. As a leading Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) intellectual he writes to also defend his party’s record during what was the most devastating episode in modern Armenian history....

Worth a read Neither masterpiece nor particularly outstanding, yet none will bore the lover of literature. Reading them, one will always find something of value… Raffi on the experience of the Armenian emigrant labourer in 19th century Istanbul Donald Abcarian, whose modern translation of Raffi’s (1835-1888) ‘The Fool’ makes a seminal Armenian novel available to the English speaking world, notes rightly that ‘it’s a shame that Raffi has become a literary non-person to “modern” Armenians....

Why we should read… Mateos Zarifian - the poet who defied death Selected Works Library of Armenian Classics, pp 365 - 472, 1981, Yerevan TITLE The poetic contemplation of human frailty and death, those incontrovertible marks of humanity’s ultimate impotence before nature, often produces its opposite - an affirmation of the value of life and an inspired awareness of its frequently hidden potentialities. Such is the case with the poetry of Mateos Zarifian (1894 - 1924)....

This year we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Nazim Hikmet’s birth. In none of the deserved tributes to this fine Turkish poet and communist activist will there be even a passing comment on a remarkable poetic affinity with the Armenian and essentially apolitical poet Missak Medzarents. Alas, that the world, and the Armenian world by and large as well, is ignorant of Medzarents’ legacy. Be that as it may, a juxtaposed reading of a few of their poems reveals a common generosity of spirit, a common sense of human solidarity and a remarkable parallel of poetic imagination and technique....

Why we should read… ‘Rouben Sevak - the poet of innocent love and rebellion’ Selected Works pp121-237, Library of Armenian Classics, 1981, Yerevan ‘Poetry captures the adventurously moving, latently expectant world of human beings. (It) is an elucidated waking dream of the essential.’ –E. Bloch ‘The poetic embrace like the carnal While it endures Forbids all lapse into the miseries of the world.’ –Andre Breton Attempting to grasp and comment on poetry in a language other than that of its original composition is a forbidding endeavour....

Worth a read Neither masterpiece nor particularly outstanding, yet none will bore the lover of literature. Reading them, one will always find something of value… ‘The Man Without Ararat in the Depth of His Soul’ by Vasken Shoushanian There are books that one must read with extreme care and caution. ‘The Man Without Ararat in the Depth of His Soul’ (Hamazkayin, p176, Beirut, 1998) by Vasken Shoushanian (1903-1941 - novelist, poet and political activist) is one such book....

Worth a read Neither masterpiece nor particularly outstanding, yet none will bore the lover of literature. Reading them, one will always find something of value… AKSEL BAKOONTZ’S ‘INHERITANCE’ Aksel Bakoontz (1899-1937), the most accomplished of the Soviet era Armenian short story writers, made a huge impression on his contemporaries. Some of the reasons can be gleaned from Tavit Kasparian’s introduction to ‘Inheritance’, a collection of Bakoontz’s unpublished political writings. Despite some questionable evaluations Kasparian illuminates significant aspects of Bakoontz’s life and work and stimulates thought about the nature of the literary and aesthetic conflicts of the early Soviet Armenian era....

Why we should read… ‘The Story of Vartanantz’ 324pp, Housapper Printing House, Cairo, Egypt, 1950 In recording the 5th century Armenian Church-led revolt against Persian imperial authority, Yeghishe’s ‘The Story of Vartanantz’ is simultaneously an inspired defence of the right to insurrection against illegitimate power. Though written after the decisive Armenian defeat at the Battle of Avarayr in 451, it reads as an uncompromising summoning to stand ground, as an invocation against demoralised surrender and as a proclamation of the righteousness of the rebels....

Worth a read Neither masterpiece nor particularly outstanding, yet none will bore the lover of literature. Reading them, one will always find something of value… An Armenian film director and an Armenian cinematic tradition, Henrik Malyan was Soviet Armenia’s foremost film director whose works such as ‘Nahabet’, ‘A Piece of the Sky’ and ‘We Are Our Mountains’ attained well-deserved international acclaim. ‘Dialogue for a Third Person’ (271pp, Nairi Publications, 1997, Yerevan) is his gem of an autobiography that will charm and intellectually engage anyone interested in art, film and the history of Armenian cinema in particular....

Why we should read… ‘The History of the Armenians’ 540pp, Armenian State University Library, Yerevan, 1982 Khazar Barpetzi’s ‘History of the Armenians’ occupies a singular position in the literature produced during the Armenian Golden Age in the 5th and 6th centuries. It exudes a remarkable confidence for the future, despite being a record of the difficult and turbulent century that followed the 387AD division of Armenia between Persia and Byzantium. Barpetzi’s exuberance is not misplaced....

Worth a read Neither masterpiece nor particularly outstanding, yet none will bore the lover of literature. Reading them, one will always find something of value… ‘The Evil Spirit’ A novel of backward prejudice by Shirvanzade Alexander Shirvanzade (1858-1935) is generally regarded as one of the great exponents of the Armenian realist novel. The merit accorded to his work is however undeserved and much of his legacy is unreadable. But he was sometimes a shrewd social observer with a facility for story telling....

Why we should read… ‘The History of Taron’ 176pp, Khorhrtayin Grogh, Yerevan, 1989 ‘The History of Taron’ is another ancient Armenian literary work whose date of composition and authorship will remain forever shrouded in the darkness of remote time. Written perhaps in the late 7th century, and perhaps also added to by different authors in subsequent periods, it is like no other in the canon of classical Armenian literature. It is of limited historical value and has no universal or enduring artistic content....

Why we should read… ‘Krikor of Narek’ Khorhrtayin Grogh, 304pp, Yerevan, Armenia, 1990 The 10th century poet and thinker Krikor of Narek (Narekatzi) once enjoyed a pre-eminent position in Armenian cultural and intellectual life. His work influenced the language, substance and contours of the nation’s literature for at least some 8 centuries. Before he became the unread icon of modern days, Narekatzi and his monumental ‘Book of Lamentations’ (Narek) were regarded with enormous reverence by the common people too....

Worth a read… Neither masterpiece nor particularly outstanding, yet none will bore the lover of literature. Reading them, one will always find something of value… Haroutyoun Sevajian - An Armenian democrat in Ottoman Bolis Sometimes even the dullest book can be read with benefit. Today, as with many other prominent pre-1915 Armenian historical figures, Haroutyoun Sevajian (1831-1875) is virtually unknown. Yet he was one of the best representatives of the mid-19th century Armenian national revival....

Why we should read… “The History” by Agatangeghos (552pp, Armenian State University, Yerevan, 1983) Agatangeghos’ “History” is always cited as the first among that cluster of Armenian language classical histories that were written immediately following the development of the national alphabet in 413. It is, according to Khazar Barpetzi, himself a 5th century historian, “the first definite account” of the “conversion of the land of Armenia from pagan ignorance to genuine knowledge of godliness”....

Why we should read… ‘The History of the Armenians’ Armenian State University Library, 428pp Works of ancient literature acquire the status of ‘classics’, that is they acquire a value and significance that endures, if they highlight social or individual relations that distinguish a given period from others; or if they reflect features of historical life that recur through subsequent ages. It is by virtue of such consideration that the wise of past epochs are able to address future generations....

Worth a read Neither masterpiece nor particularly outstanding, yet none will bore the lover of literature. Reading them, one will always find something of value… A study of individual self-hatred Time and circumstance often bury valuable works of literature that, even in translation, retain a capacity to satisfy and inspire through their illuminating grasp of aspects of human experience. ‘The Natural Son’, (Selected Works, 1992, Antelias, Lebanon) a short novel by Yeroukhan (Yervant Srmakeshkhanlian, 1870-1915), first published in 1913, is a telling instance....

Why we should read… ‘The Armenian Renaissance’ by Vasken Chaloyan Haybedhrad, 254pp, Yerevan, Armenia, 1964 It may be unpopular to assert, but it remains an incontrovertible fact that in its 70 odd years of life Soviet Armenian historiography registered some enduring accomplishments. Much was written that brutally bent standards of historical research to prevailing political expediency. But beyond this we also have a substantial body of work that has contributed significantly to our understanding of the development of Armenian history....

Worth a read Neither masterpiece nor artistically outstanding, yet none will disappoint the lover of literature. Reading them, one will always find something of value… Silva Kapoutikian - a re-evaluation ‘Pages From My Sealed Cabinets’ (688pp, Abolon Publishers, Yerevan, 1997) In recent years, 80 year old poet and activist Silva Kapoutikian has been dismissed, reviled and condemned. She stands accused of political cowardice, being a willing instrument of stalinism, a sycophant and a crawler....

Why we should read… ‘My Exiled Soul’ and ‘The Last Chalice’ Selected Works Volume One, Antelias, Lebanon, 1987 Zabel Yessaian’s (1878-1943) ‘My Exiled Soul’ and ‘The Last Chalice’ are not just two tremendously powerful and evocative love stories. They are also masterly philosophic considerations on aspects of the individual’s subjective, ‘spiritual’ world. In an age where the unending accumulation of material possessions is often regarded as the only criterion of a rich and valuable life, Yessaian forcefully reminds us of an increasingly sidelined truth: life cannot be lived to the fullest unless society affords men and women the opportunity to develop their individual creative, imaginative, emotional and intellectual potential....

Worth a read Neither masterpiece nor particularly outstanding, yet none will bore the lover of literature. Reading them, one will always find something of value… The tragedy of an essentially decent man. There exist literary works which, whilst not masterpieces, nevertheless say something meaningful about the human experience and offer critical insights into often overlooked realities of social life. Dikran Cheogyurian’s (1884-1915) ‘The Monastery’ (Library of Armenian Classics, 1983, Yerevan, Armenia) is a work of this order....

Worth a read Neither masterpiece nor particularly outstanding, yet none will bore the lover of literature. Reading them, one will always find something of value… Hovanness Toumanian and the drama of abused womanhood Hovanness Toumanian was an outstanding poet and the best of his work deserves a privileged position on the shelves of any lover of literature. Yet his position in Armenian literary criticism is not secure. There are those who dismiss him as little more than a provincial troubadour, claiming he merely regurgitated folklore which, despite its Armenian colour, does not scale the heights of real poetry....

Why we should read… ‘The History’ by Ghevond Sovetakan Grogh, 182pp Yerevan 1982 Modern historians of ancient epochs, despite all the resources available to them, in many ways merely reiterate, in embellished form, enduring insights already provided by classical historians from those very earlier times. This is certainly the case regarding the history of the Arab conquest of Armenia from the 7th to the 9th centuries. Ghevond’s ‘History’, written in the 790s, records the Arab invasions of the Middle East and Armenia from 632AD to 788AD....

Worth a read… Neither masterpiece nor particularly outstanding, yet none will bore the lover of literature. Reading them, one will always find something of value… The fascinating art of medieval Armenian manuscript scribes ‘The Linguistic and Grammatical Theory of Armenian Manuscript Scribes in the Middle Ages’ (Academy of Armenian Sciences, 408pp, Yerevan, 1962) sounds as if it could be an awfully dull read. But quite the contrary! If you don’t want to read all four hundred pages, including some original texts, at least read the author Levon Khacheryan’s thought-provoking introduction....

To sustain a language “Modern Western Armenian” Book Review By Eddie Arnavoudian Every effort to preserve the Armenian language in the Diaspora is welcome. Dora Sakayan’s, in the form of her ‘Modern Western Armenian’ text-book is particularly so. Nowhere in the Diaspora is Armenian an everyday language anymore, the way it used to be in Lebanon for example. To secure and fashion their lives in the Diaspora Armenians have to employ the dominant local language, their own acquiring secondary, and for the vast majority almost exclusively domestic use....

Worth a read… Neither masterpiece nor particularly outstanding, yet none will bore the lover of literature. Reading them, one will always find something of value… ‘The Last Dawn’ by Berj Zeitountzian Berj Zeitountzian’s ‘The Last Dawn’ (Vertchin Arevakal@) is a memorable historical novel focusing on the role of the Armenian intelligentsia in Constantinople between 1880s and the 1915 Genocide. Avoiding inane romanticism and the worst of narrow-minded nationalism so common to Armenian historical fiction this novel offers an authentic and moving glimpse into a critical period of modern Armenian history....

Worth a read… Neither masterpiece nor particularly outstanding, yet none will bore the lover of literature. Reading them, one will always find something of value… An Armenian Master of Jurisprudence Despite important reservations A. K. Soukiasian’s monograph on Mkhitar Kosh is an exciting read. Born around 1130 Kosh was the foremost legal mind of his time and set out a canon of law that for many centuries was to serve Armenian communities the world over....

Worth a read Neither masterpiece nor particularly outstanding, yet none will bore the lover of literature. Reading them, one will always find something of value… 1 In the early 1960s, freed of some of the earlier political constraints a few Armenian authors managed to deal with aspects of 1915 with a degree of artistic integrity which avoided that vulgar patriotism and chauvinism which destroys creative potential. Among these works is a volume entitled “The White Book” by Soviet Armenian author Hratchia Kotchar, who tragically died in 1966 at the age of 55....

Why we should read… ‘In the Name of the Father and of the Son’, a novel (156pp, 1999, LA, California, USA, $15) ‘Every story has an end and every end, its story. This is the story of an ending. The story of my father’s ending’. Thus begins Vahe Berberian’s latest novel ‘In the name of the Father and of the Son’. Like his first novel ‘Letters from Zaatar’ this one also casts a critical eye on aspects of contemporary life in the USA....

Worth a read Neither masterpiece nor particularly outstanding, yet none will bore the lover of literature. Reading them, one will always find something of value… 1 ‘The Cracked Miniature’ (168pp, 1987, 2nd edition, USA) by contemporary poet and prose writer Vehanoush Tekyan is an impressive collection of stories wrought from the horrors of the civil war in Lebanon. Written in the midst of raging battles, exploding bombs and sniper gunfire, these stories feature the lives of Lebanese Arabs, Palestinians and Armenians, combatants and non-combatants, as they are brutalised by the experience of war....

Book Review An Armenian ‘Suffragette’ Serpouhi Dussap: A militant for women’s equality It is fitting that one of the first Armenian-content English language publications in the year 2000 is a ‘Tribute to the First Armenian Feminist Writer - Serpouhi Dussap’ by Beirut-based Azadouhi Kalaidjian-Simonian. Revealing a thorough knowledge of Serpouhi Dussap’s three novels and other writings Azadouhi Kalaidjian presents a vivid intellectual portrait of a woman who was far ahead of her time and whose words have resonance to this day for all women and men, Armenian or not....

Why we should read… ‘The History - on the depredations visited upon us by foreign nations around us’ (Hayastan Publishers, 155pp, Yerevan 1971) Like the Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Persians and other nations, the Armenians have also produced an ancient, classical literature composed by historians, chroniclers, poets, scientists and philosophers. Movses Khorenatzi, Agatangeghos, Pavsdos Puzant, Ghazar Barpetzi, Ghevond, Yeghishe, Goryoun, Ardzrouni, Anania Shirakatzi, Krikor Datevatzi, Hoavaness Imasdaser and Mekhitar Kosh are but the more familiar names in a longer list....

Worth a read Neither masterpiece nor particularly outstanding, yet none will bore the lover of literature. Reading them, one will always find something of value… 1 Antranik Dzaroukian was best known as the energetic editor of the Beirut based and very highly regarded ‘Nairi’ periodical. But he was also a poet and novelist. His best work is, I think, ‘People Who Skipped Childhood’, an autobiographical story of his experiences in the deserts and orphanages of Syria....

Why we should read… ‘Selected Works’ by Mikael Nalpantian (Sovedagan Krogh, Yerevan, Armenia, 602pp, 1979) ‘Our nation’s present is miserable, here subjugation and poverty speak loud.’ Mikael Nalpantian (1823-1869) famous among Armenians mainly for two poems, ‘Liberty’ and ‘Childhood Days,’ is also unquestionably the most enduring of that group of intellectuals and political activists who formed the avant-guarde of the mid-19th century Armenian national revival. He made outstanding contributions in virtually every sphere - educational, linguistic, aesthetic, philosophic, literary, economic and political - rendering the ideas of the Enlightenment and the European revolutions relevant to the Armenia of his day....

Worth a read Neither masterpiece nor particularly outstanding, yet none will bore the lover of literature. Reading them, one will always find something of value… Nar Tos (Mikael Der-Hovannisian, 1867- 1933) is a literary figure of some merit despite the fact that he is frequently overlooked in favour of the less accomplished Shirvanzade. Nar Tos’s abilities are evident in an early short novel the ‘Gentle Chords’. Characters are consistently well developed and through the unfolding plot they come to embody some of those perennial conflicts between the demands of social and family morality on the one hand and the ‘free spirit’ of love and lust that rest deep in the individual being on the other....

Why we should read: ‘The Amira’s Daughter’ by Yeroukhan ‘Yeroukhan - Selected Works’ Antelias, Lebanon, 1993. 464 pages. Abuse of the term ‘a masterpiece’ is all too common in contemporary literary commentary, driven as it is by the pressure to sell rather than to appreciate works of literature. Yet the expression is appropriate when it is applied to Yeroukhan’s (1874-1915) 1904 novel ‘The Amira’s Daughter’. With remarkable satirical skill and an expert eye for detail Yeroukhan brings to life the pre-1915 Armenian community in Constantinople with all its classes, personalities and national institutions....