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ISSUE OF GENRE IN ART – 2015-3

Criteria and bases of genre identification

Summary

Slavi-Avik Harutyunyan

Key words – Genre, I. Weisfeld, S. Freilich, film, film studies, Y. Lotman, live action, historical film, musical, literary criticism, Periodic table, style, M. Bakhtin

Throughout many historical periods the interest in the issue of film genres has grown and fallen every now and then; hence, film genres and their identification issues are regularly being studied. With this regard, several theoretical approaches to film genres have been touched upon in this article. The author considers the primary genre categorizations drawn up by popular critics viewing genre as a mode of narration, conventionality and as an aspect of form. The theoretical interpretation of the emotional factors regarded as a basis for identifying film genres have been carried out.

The study reveals the major shortcomings of this classification: such as inconsistency, lack of the unified basis and a clear understanding of what can and should be taken into account while identifying.

Yet another approach to film genre creation based on the combined nature of cinematography has also been observed in details. According to this approach, along with the widely used literary principles, the cultural as well as musical features borrowed from fine arts and music, and other media of the world artistic appropriation should be observed.

The author concludes that the problem of film genres cannot be viewed without considering the issue of the style. However, the style and the language of each piece of work of art are always closely interlinked: thus the matter of film language, one of the most crucial and tricky issues in the modern cinematography, is to be considered as well.

NEW DATA ON IRON AGE CULTURE IN ARTSAKH REGION – 2015-3

Summary

Nzhdeh A. Yeranyan

Key words – menhir, the vishap stone stelae, anthropomorphic stone stelae, Artsakh, Utik, Scythian culture, Arjaq Qaleh.

The artistic treatment of stone in South Caucasian region has been known for millennia. There are various known menhirs, vishap stelae, phallic and anthropomorphic stelae, etc. This assemblage could be followed until various stelae of the medieval period. During this long chronological period, all forms of stelae changed morphologically, typologically and semantically, but, most probably, had certain ideological similarities. The anthropomorphic stelae of eastern regions of historical Armenia (Artsakh and Utik provinces) are of a special importance but still remain unstudied. In this article are presented these anthropomorphic stone stelae, problems of their chronology, iconography and ideology.

The mentioned stelae are flat and prolonged slabs, approximately rectangular in section, that are divided into three parts by two horizontal lines: the head, the body and the part below the waist. The stelae are 30-60 cm wide, 120-140 cm high and up to 20 cm thick. There are seventeen stelae of this type known in the mentioned region. Each stela will be described in our paper separately.

The stone anthropomorphic stelae, which were accidentally found in Artsakh and surrounding plain territories, judging by their iconography, morphological specifics as well as through comparison with famous parallels from the neighboring regions, could be dated back to VII-VI cc. BC. Despite the fact that monumental sculpture is widespread, has a long history and appears separately in each ethno-cultural group, we are using the data about similar anthropomorphic stelae in the region to discuss the ideology of the stelae under discussion, to reconstruct their importance and ethno-cultural environment as well as to interpret them. These anthropomorphic sculptures are similar to the Scythian stone anthropomorphic sculptures known from the Northern Caucasus, Black Sea basin, Crimea, etc. The Scythian stelae, as a rule, represent the Scythian warrior (probably an ancestor) and were placed on burials. Currently, there are 160 stelae of that type.

Similar stelae we meet also in Iranian steppes. Тhese stelae were first described during Charles Burney`s Meskinsahr survey in 1978 .

Thus, as a result of the study of these stelae, we could gain some idea about the beliefs, ideology and history of the people who created them. It allows us to understand the history of artistic phenomena and of the historical environment in which this art was formed. It is possible that the stone anthropomorphic stelae under consideration depicted the dead or heroes, soldiers or high-ranked males. These monuments “immortalized” the memory of the deceased and were objects of memorial ceremonies devoted to them.

ARMENIAN AND INDO-EUROPEAN DIPHTONGAL SYSTEMS – 2015-3

Diachronic- Typological Attempt

Summary

Vardan Z. Petrosyan

Key Words – diphthong and a like-diphthong, systematic correspondence, Proto-Indo-European Language, diachronic typology, phonemic- phonetic status of ու.

The system of Old Armenian diphtongs has been studied mainly from the synchronic point of view, while the diachronic studies have only been restricted to pointing out the origin or,in other words, the Indo-European prototypes of the diphtongs, without comprehensive investigation. The investigation of the given matter on the one hand reveals a reliable image of the correspondence between Old Armenian and Indo- European diphtongs and on the other hand provides an opportunty to explain the deviations of Old Armenian system of diphtongs from that of the Indo-European diphtongs. According to this, there are the following correspondences between the diphtongal systems of Old Armenian and Indo-European languages: au/*āu>աւ(aw/aṷ),*ai>այ (ay/ai̭), *eu>եւ(ew), *eu/*ou>ոյ(oy/ oi̭),*eu> (եւ/ew/>)>իւ (iw/ iṷ): Եա (ea) is the only pure Old Armenian diphtong, an Armenian new formation, which doesn’t have its Indo-European prototype. Among the Old Indo-European languages only Old English had the diphtong եա (ea)- (comp. bearn [bæa̭rn] “child”, ēare [ˊǣare] “ear”), but taking into consideration the fact that neither the Proto-Language, nor any other old Indo-European languge had the mentioned diphtong, there is no reason to think about genetic similarities between Old Armenian and Old English եա∼ea diphtongs.

The phonemic status of Old Armenian ու is to some extent arguable; the question is whether the phoneme ու was a like-diphtong or just a simple vowel. The typological studies give us reason to think that the phoneme ու had also been a diphtong-like, so it should be transcribed as ow/oṷ, rather than u.

NOVEL BY KOSTAN ZARIAN “THE SHIP ON THE MOUNTAIN” – 2015-3

Summary

Yervand G. Ter-Khachatryan

Key words – Ara Heryan, Batum, ship, mountain, Yerevan, Sevan, “Albatross”, Zvart, Tumanyan, Miranyan, Kanaker.

The article is devoted to the novel “The ship on the mountain” by Kostan Zarian – one of the major figures of Armenian literature of the twentieth century.

The novel was written just before the Second World War and was published in 1943, in Boston. The novel shows the difficult situation in Armenia and the Armenian reality in 1918-1920. The novel is the most significant work of the author, because it sums up the artistic expression of the sacred and revered idea of a thinker, artist and philosopher, an idea that was developed over decades, the idea concerning the fate and suffering of the Armenian people. His philosophy, his approach to the complex and unresolved issues of the Armenian reality are shown with the help of the main character of the novel – Ara Heryan. For this purpose, the article provides a detailed image of Ara Heryan. This image is the legacy of the writer, his testament for future generations.

The other characters of the novel are also quite significant – i. e. Petros Mark, Peronyan and others. It is extremely important that the readers may feel and see the image of life of Armenians at a concrete historical time – in 1918-1920.

As for the literary and artistic integrity of the novel, we would like to note the author’s artistic thinking, his poetics.

In this article, we took into account almost all the literary material relating to the novel, also some incomplete and one-sided interpretations. The author of the article made an attempt to read correctly the novel by Konstan Zarian and tried to interprete the idea and the implementation of the writer in a right way.

LATTER-DAY MEMORIES OF MAR – 2015-3

Part one. The early years of working in ARF Dashnaktsutyun

Summary

Prepared by Ruben H. Gasparian and Ruben O. Sahakyan

Key words -Mar, ARF Dashnaktsutyun, Simon Zavaryan, Yerevan, Gandzak, dynamite, Jalal-ogli, Cyprus, Armen Garo, Hnchaks, Constantinople, Onnik Derdzakyan, Babken Syuni.

Memoirs of a famous activist of ARF Dashnaktsutyun Michael Ter-Martirosyan (Mar), which will be published in this and subsequent issues of the magazine VEM, begin with a description of the Armenian revival of 1880 and are terminated in 1913, by the events of the First Balkan War. The first part presents the membership of Mar to the party, who was then a teacher in Ganzak and his first steps on the instructions of Simon Zavaryan – acquisition of dynamite from mines of Getabek, then teachers’ and party activities in Jalaloglu. He describes pretty in details the events of the Council and the decisions taken during the meeting in Tbilisi at the beginning of 1896, for the execution of which Michael Ter-Martirosyan visited Geneva. After that, having received an additional assignment from the editor of the magazine “Droshak” – Hovnan Davtyan, he left for Egypt, then – to Cyprus, where he met Armen Garo (Garegin Pastrmadzhyan). After spending some time in Larnaca and visiting the Monastery of St. Makar whose surrounding forests and mountains were regarded by party members as a suitable place to hide weapons and people, Mar sailed to Constantinople, where, after many adventures, he found his party fellows – Onnik Derdzakyan (Vramyan) and Babken Syuni, who were already preparing the operation Bank Ottoman.

FORMATION OF NOMENCLATURE IN SOVIET ARMENIA IN THE 1920S – 2015-3

Summary

Ararat M. Hakobyan

Key words – category, electorate, Central Committee, Party apparatus, J. Stalin, Ashot Hovhannisyan, revolutionary committee, Council of People’s Commissars, commissariat, heating part, responsible worker, drawing up a list of posts, branch structure, personal data, one-party system.

In the mid-1920s, on the example of the Soviet Union’s system of one-party Bolshevik nomenclature, the same emerged also in Soviet Armenia. It is known that in Soviet literature, one were not usually speaking about usually political nomenclature for political reasons, it was also prohibited to engage in such matters. The emergence of the bureaucratic nomenclature system is due to historical and political past of the Russia and monopoly political and economic regime established by the Bolsheviks. A unified procedure for registration of party workers and their appointment was developed. Special rations and privileges were established for responsible workers. By the degree of control all the posts were divided into three classes. Throughout the country there were at least four levels of nomenclatures, each consisting of three classes: 1st, 2nd and 3rd nomenclature i. e. there were 12 classes all in all. At the same time the nomenclatures had branch structures, the number of which has reached a dozen in Armenia. For persons included in nomenclatures, some personal cards were drawn up. County, and from 1930 regional nomenclatures became lower-level nomenclatures. According to archival materials it can be concluded that in that period the total number of employees who hold positions in nomenclatures of the Armenian SSR, was about 4,200 people. This system expanded and improved in future. She remained until the collapse of the Soviet Union and communist totalitarianism

GREGORY APIRAT MAGISTROS – 2015-3

The Forgotten “Great Prince” of 11th Century

Summary           

Karen A. Matevossian

Key words – Gregory VI Apirat, Grigor Magistros Pahlavuni, Hovhannes-Smbat, Kecharis, a double name, Grand Duke, protocol, emperor, Catholicos, son, daughter.

During the Bagratuni period the history of many of the princely houses in Armenia has not been studied in detail and are therefore artificially identified with better known Pahlavunis. Historians treated other noble houses of the 11th century Hasanyan the same way, identifying them with the Pahlavunis. The most well known representative of this family is mentioned in some sources as Gregory Magistros, in others, as Apirat.Comparative evidence shows that originally he was called by the dual name of Gregory Apirat. And the researchers often confused him with Gregory Magistros Pahlavuni.

Hassan’s son Gregory from the Bagratuni family was an eminent prince and was called by historians the “Great Prince”. The first time he is referred to as Magistros is in 1001 in Arzakan records. In 1003 he built St. Gregory Church of the Kecharis Monastery and also set up a canal in Yerevan. The prince’s brother, George who was the owner of the Keghi castle, built the church for the Havuts Tar Monastery in 1002. At a time Gregory Apirat saved the life of HovhannesSmbat, King of Ani, and afterwards was killed in Dvin in 1021. Despite the availability of this data, Gregory Apirat Magistros’s name is not mentioned in Armenian Academy’s 1976 and 2014 editions of history volumes, nor is it mentioned in the encyclopedias.

After his death, the prince’s children have gone under the care of the King Hovhannes-Smbat, who later married Gregory Apirat’s daughter to a famous prince named Vest Sargis. His sons, Apljahap and Vassak married the daughters of Gregory Magistros Pahlavuni. These families gave birth to prominent clans, such as Hasanyan-Pahlavuni, whose descendants have long used the name Gregory and Apirat separately and as a dual name, Gregory Apirat

LEGEND OF THE UNDERGROUND OF ARF DASHNAKTSUTYUN – 2015-3

A remarkable document on the revolutionary activity of Avetis Gharibyan (Padvali Vagho)

Summary 

Gevorg S. Khudinyan

Key words – Padvali Vagho, underground, Alexandropol, Police Department, Ministry of Justice, military weapons, ammunition, shells, search, sack, investigation.

The publication provides a detailed report on the unsuccessful attempt of investigation by imperial police department and the Ministry of Justice toward a resident of Alexandropol (Gyumri) – Avetis Gharibyan in 1891-1892, we’ve also attached data taken from the Russian State Archive, with interpretations of the notes and explanations.

At the beginning of February 1891 as a result of denunciation by his own neighbor – Greek Alexander Abramov, Avetis Gharibyan faced a prosecution, as his booth (basement) was searched and some evidences of guilt were found (combat arms and ammunition), so it seemed there was no way to avoid punishment. But with the ingenuity that is inherent to the inhabitants of Gyumri, Avetis could take all the necessary steps that changed the course of the investigation. First he appeared before the court as a victim, who was slandered, and the prosecutor was presented as offender, whose statements were false. The fact that the witnesses were directed against the informer himself and the strong evidences were presented as a result of his machinations, and finally, notes that were stored at the informer’s and the testimony of the authors were again turned against the Greek, say that behind the legendary the figure was standing not only the organization of the ARF in Alexandropol, but also the aspiring citizens of Gyumri, who were always ready to defend their fellow countryman who was persecuted for “Sacred Cause”.

Though “The Report” compiled by the Ministry of Justice on September 5, 1892 has passed through all the punitive jurisdictions of tsarist Russia it states that under the pressure of the arguments and evidences of his friends the administrative authorities have been forced to discontinue the investigation.

HISTORICAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC OVERVIEW OF WESTERN ARMENIA ON THE EVE OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE – 2015-3

Part two: the southern and western districts of Van’s Vilayet and the town of Van

Summary

Gegham M. Badalyan

Key words – Vilayet of Van, the city of Van, Armenian semiindependent principalities, Akhtamar Catholicosate, Assyrian region, Gavash (Rshtunik), Kartchkan and Ketsan, Upper Karkar, Mox (district of Mox), Shatakh, Norduz, Aghbak, Monastery of the Holy Apostle Bartholomew, Gyavar and Dzhulamerik, Aram Manukyan.

We represent to the reader the second part of our research dedicated to the clarification of the demographic image of Western Armenia on the eve of the Armenian Genocide; the study includes rural and urban areas of south-western, southern and partly south-eastern provinces of Van’s vilayet.

In the series, representing rural and urban areas of south-western, southern and partly south-eastern districts of Van’s Vilayet populated by Armenians we can list the following districts and villages: in the district (sancak) Van – Gavash (Rshtunik), Kartchkan (with Ketsan), Mox, Upper Karkar, Shatakh, Norduz also from the province of Akkari – Aghbak, Gyavar and Dzhulamerik. The provinces of the first group (except Norduz) were mostly Armenian populated before the Genocide – 55-62%, and in the Upper Karkara more than 70% of the population were Armenians.

This phenomenon has 3 main reasons: 1) up to 60-ies of XIX century the abovementioned provinces were populated almost exclusively by Armenians, 2) Some semi-independent principalities called Melicatus still preserved in Mox and Shatakh, 3) separated provinces were part of the Diocese of the Catholicosate of Aghtamar Island and the church of the Holy Cross was mobilizing center for local Armenians.

As for the second group of regions (nahiye) of Van vilayet, on the eve of the Genocide Armenians were a minority there due to the fact that the massacres and forced migration of Armenians almost did not stop there from the middle of the XIX century.

The article also includes the regional center – the city of Van. As in the first part here, too, the reader is provided by historical, demographic, and other data about the largest administrative units and major population centers. Armenian historical monuments are also well presented. At the end of the article the reader will find general geographical and statistical information on the entire district of Van.

NIKOGHOS SARAFYAN: the conquest of the epic barrier – 2015-1

Summary

Souren D.Danielian

Key words – Nikoghos Sarafian, Diaspora Armenian literature, French Armenian poet, epic artistic mention, existential thinking, procession, remembrance of blood, journey, creative reflux and tide, “paper helmet”.

Diasporan Armenian poet and novelist Nikoghos Sarafian just recently finds the way to native reader, though there have been made some experiences to appropriate him before (Gegham Sevan, Vazgen Gabrielian, Artհur Andranikian and others).

Forty and more years after death, Nikoghos Sarafian hardly, but entirely can conquer artistic barrier in the field of epic poetry, with his poetic books, competing with Yeghishe Charents, Harut Kostandian, Vahan Tekeyan and other Armenian giant poets.

In our research we have examined characteristic of Sarafian’s poetry, tried to give new interpretation to his artistic recognition. We tried to evaluate the deep attention of literary critics of Diaspora towards Nikoghos Sarafian, that is typical to Harutyun Kyurkjian, Grigor Pyltian and others.