Part II. Hovhannes Tumanyan and the ideological heritage of Simon Zavaryan
Summary
Susanna G. Hovhannisyan
In the early 20th century there was a strong need for people who would dedicate themselves to the Armenian culture, national liberation and struggle for life. And they didn’t keep waiting. Two of them were Tumanyan and Zavaryan, the greatest Armenians of that epoch, whose joint efforts for the prosperity of the national culture and ideological heritage were due to the similarity of their temper and moral values. The best documentation of their struggle and common attitude towards the issues of the Armenian studies is their correspondence, especially the letters of Zavaryan addressed to Tumanyan on May 27 and Septmber 22, 1913 (Charents Museum of Literature and Arts, N978), which have never been made public, as well as some other relating to the outstanding ARF figure (the letter of Arshak Papyan, Charents Museum of Literature and Arts, N966) which will also be presented to the society for the first time. They put a new slant on life and work of Zavaryan, and in particular on the history of his album’s creation entitled «Armenian and Armenia» or «Work of the Armenian», which is his research concerning the science of the country, some new details of Zavaryan’s scientific activity and the destiny of his research were also revealed in the letters.
The article presents a nationwide population response on the occasion of unexpected death of Zavaryan and his lively commemoration by the society. We have examined also two valuable articles of Tumanyan dedicated to Zavaryan – «Honest and Sincere» and «some character traits of Zavaryan», where the artist created the real and vivid image of Zavaryan, as a public figure and as just a human.
A so far unknown poem of Tumanyan, which was read in Berlin during the event dedicated to the memory Zavaryan is published for the first time.