Category Archives: LITERARY CRITICISM

In Simon Simonyan’s collection of “The Twilight of the Mountaineers”

Marine D. Ghazaryan

Lebanese-Armenian writer Simon Simonyan’s collection “The Twilight of the Mountaineers” has a special place in the literature of the Armenian Genocide, which is characterized by various issues and questions. Summarizing up the author’s main ideas, it turns out that his thoughts are built through the binomial concepts, and the whole system created by them expresses the perceptions of the writer about the native and the alien.

In this very article, with the combination of phenomenology and imagology methods, native and alien issues are examined in schematic contrast relating to components of national identity: values, mentality, language, racial memory, which reveal Simonyan’s national self-consciousness and his own system of values. The heroes of the book are immigrants from Sassoun, who survived the Genocide, who differ in their emphasized sense of nationality.

The story is told by the author-character, who interweaves episodes of his own biography with the eyewitness history. The idea of the beginning: roots have a pivotal importance. Following the tendencies of the development of modern culture, in order to find the ontological foundations of a nation, Simonyan chooses the way to reach the roots from the present to the ancient times, the basis of which is the mythological events.

In his works, Simonyan acts as a great humanist, because raising patriotic issues, he is not molded by narrow national issues. In his stories, the consequences of wars are examined first as universal, then as national, family, and then as individual tragedies. There are no explicit depictions of genocide events in the collection. In most of the works, the scenes of the massacre are concentrated in the general images. The stories are distinguished by the examination of the cause-andeffect relations of the tragedy, making the reproach of national mistakes the most important part of the author’s ideology.

In his short stories, with various perceptions of the native and the alien, Simonyan has tried to achieve the truth by mentioning the theme of the Armenians of Sassoun who have escaped the genocide, examining the realities in terms of an impartial historian and convincing artistry, showing his own aesthetic of being faithful to reality.

Summary

Narine A. Hovhannisyan (Stepanakert)
Hakob Oshakan’s novel, besides being culturology, chronology, psychoanalysis and ideology, is, in our deep conviction, the novel of the Armenian Question. The historical process that started the tragedies of the Armenian people to counter the Armenian Question was largely conditioned by the presence of the Turks. Consequently, Turkishness and the Turk, as a collective whole of national characteristics, became the main concentration of thoughts of Oshakan’s novel.

Exceptional depths are the psycho-observations and psycho-instinctive discoveries of the Turk’s character created by Oshakan, the penetration of racial inner, dark folds, the uncoverings and decipherments of the instincts of the sexual psychological impulses, the subconscious flow, the discoveries of internally stored realities.

In Oshakan’s novel, the most typical manifestations of sexual psychology of the Turk’s character are vulgarity, rape, ethnic profanation, homosexuality, forced feminization, at that they are not private cases of racial psychology, but a public phenomenon and morality. Turkish sexual harassment and racial sadism were fully exposed during the Armenian massacres. According to Oshakan, the Armenian massacres, especially the 1915 Genocide, were the historical platform for Turkish self-manifestation.

One of the striking features of Turkish ethnic psychology described in Oshakan’s novel is religious fanaticism with a focus on anti-Armenian sentiment. Hatred on an unbelievable level is a sacred feeling in Turkish national psychology, also a public phenomenon, a state-encouraged policy. The false ideology of the Turkish state-nation has for centuries instilled in Turkey the mentality that Armenians live on their lands, sowing hatred towards Armenians to the point of national fanaticism.

According to Oshakan, the psychology of extermination and expansionism reaches the level of doctrine in Turkey. The ideology of the Great Turan is the cornerstone of the Turkish national-political strategy and Oshakan shows that Pan-Turkism and Turanism, as complementary concepts, are the national basis for the education of Turkish generations. The dream of the Great Turan, complemented by the racial biological instincts of the Turks, became the precondition for the Armenian Genocide and the occupation of the Armenian Highland.

Oshakan’s revelations of Turkish ethnic psychology are falsification, denial, cunning and unsurpassed diplomacy. On the symmetry of the subconscious and conscious levels of Turkishness Oshakan directs sharp emphases especially against the conscious։ crime and villainy are born from the inner drive of the Turkish biological instincts, from the unconscious level of meditations, from the sound of blood, while denial and treachery are manifestations of the conscious level.

Oshakan’s revelations of the Turkish ethnic image lead to the philosophical notion of an anti-human. The philosophy of the anti-man rises on the internal psychological basis of the history of sadistically committing genocides towards unarmed nations and cold-heartedly denying them. Conscience and self-esteem as psychological elements are completely absent in the Turkish national consciousness and psychological structure.

Thus, in Oshakan’s novel, blood and gender are the poles of the ethnic Turkish type of psychoanalysis, the tensions of internal density. Turkey, as a collective psychology, is at the level of the blood of the Turkish heroes of Oshakan, that is, of innate essence. In other words, Turkishness is a biological psychology, an instinctive mental system.

On the occasion of the 80th birth anniversary of the philosopher-poet

Summary

Hripsime A. Zakaryan
The theme of life and death has been and remains one of the main literature themes. It is an undeniable truth that life and death problem, in all its multiplicity of themes, is connected with Armenian poetry as an inner worldview. It has developed regularly and logically, in the light of philosophical conceptions of the authors of this or that period, mainly in two directions։ first, death was traditionally perceived as some absolutely natural necessity, at the same time including in itself tragic mood nuances. Second, moral-philosophical, when death is viewed and perceived as the end of earthly sufferings and transition to another life. The philosophical manifestation of this problem is mostly expressed in works of poetsymbolists.

In contemporary Armenian poetry, the theme of this orientation remains relevant and necessary. Emphasized, fully and universally, the life and death theme was sought to be more concretely and vividly transformed in Edoyan’s lyrical works. By redefining the traditional ways, the poet expands and enriches philosophical reflections on life, death, and immortality. This becomes more obvious and expressive as a result of comparing it with works of different authors of different historical periods (Yeghishe Charents, Vahan Terian and others).

The synthesis of Christian and Eastern religious-philosophical perceptions in the worldview of lyrical “I” is the main component of H. Edoyan’s entire creative art.

Thus, the relevance of this article is conditioned by the need for a special analytical work dedicated to the problem of life and death in Edoyan’s poetry, to his philosophical reflections on death, human life and soul immortality.

The article attempts to identify from the standpoint of traditional religiouscultural beliefs the essence, the content originality of the poems written on the issues of life and death that one often meets in the poetry of the prominent Armenian poet Henrik Edoyan. The eternal theme of life and death is often met in Armenian and world poetry in various wordings. However, unlike other poets, Henrik Edoyan, by rediscovering the eternal essence of world religions, confirms non-existence of death and the eternal life that in the poetic text is perceived as a realized truth, conveying a new meaning and a new artistic coloring to the poem.

The poet’s philosophical reflections on the meaning of life, death and immortality are reinterpreted in poems such as “Chaos is us, me and you”, “Here and there”, “Light and heavy”, “One and numerous”, etc.

The purpose of this article is the psychological-philosophical analysis of lifedeath correlation problems, which allows to rethink the peculiarities of H. Edoyan’s poetic world perception.

On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the poet

Summary

Suren S. Abrahamyan
The poem “Requiem” published in 1969 is the most significant work in Razmik Davoyan’s poetic legacy. That is one of the masterpieces of Armenian poetry of the last half-century which expresses the way of development of the poetry of the post-Sevak period whose worldview, poetics is extremely complex and has not yet been analyzed. Therefore, this analysis is the first literary attempt that offers a unique starting point for interpretation.

In general, Davoyan’s way of poetry, starting from the 60s of the last century, is the search for the song that is transformed into a melody. The word corresponds to the song that is born before things and is not a metaphor, and the melody corresponds to the spirit that expresses the substratum of the word. That is why the word bears the echo of the melody which is embodied in things, “fills the universe with life”, jingles in the depths of the melody that lives forever, like the instant in cosmic peace. Therefore, the poet’s word has an ontological substratum that seeks the purity of the poetics and the melody. The loss of the word is therefore the loss of the melody, and the loss of the melody is the destruction of the word, the elimination of the meaning that is probably the loss of life. Consequently, the poet’s reliance is the word that is reborn within the melody, lives with it, is resurrected, as below, above. But the melody is above, the word is below.

The substratum of the song, then, descends from the top down, embodying the word that radiates the meaning of existence. Davoyan’s “Requiem”, which sounds like a melody, mourns the song and the loss of the word. Figuratively speaking, it is like the mystery of the cross that descends from the top down as a melody to connect the word with the upper sphere. And below strives up to sound like its
melody. Thus, in the poem “Requiem”, Davoyan is looking for the prototype of the word, the soul, the antecedent song, which contemporaries call poetry. The tragedy and tragical, however, lies there that the distorted song, like a tortured woman like a ghost, wanders from heaven to earth as a pillar of light leading to Golgotha, looking for itself in chaos. That is why God has become a probable god, a probablespirit, like a ghost of a true song. But our spirit struggles. The yearning for the song has made us sick. But the roads do not save us, though our souls sing the song of the road. A faithless nomad, strange and horrific, appears on our way again and says, “Your song is sung”. Not only the person but also the song is a martyr that has been persecuted as much as our way has persecuted us again.

Summary

Anna S. Mikoyan
French-Armenian writer Z. Vorbouni having psychological education reflected the theses of Freudism in his fiction. In his opinion, psychology is the only way to discover the truths of life. The author confessed many times that the theory of the psychologist Z. Freud had had a big effect on his creative thinking. In this article we examined the symbols of dreams, pointed out by Freud, that are reflected in Z. Vorbouni’s fiction.

The author, being a follower of Freudism and at an early stage of literary life adhering to the surrealist literary stream, which is also based on Freud’s psychoanalysis, paid much importance on dream study. He published his dreams and their interpretations. He often wrote literary works based on the plots of those dreams. Vorbouni also published the interpretations of some of his dreams. By the confession of the writer, he saw the difficult solutions of his novels in a dream and wrote down. In general, while writing he closed his eyes and “dreamed” the adventures of his characters.

That is the reason why in Vorbouni’s fiction are found almost all the symbols highlighted by Freud. Those symbols have sexual character. Vorbouni often mentioned that the issue of gender and sexuality is essential in his fiction. Mainly the symbols of female sexuality dominate, as women have a dominant position in Vorbouni’s fiction. The following female symbols are displayed: from geographical-spatial units there are street, field, meadow, sea, garden, from buildings there are church, bell tower, ship, tunnel, room, from animals there are helix, crayfish, silkworm, turtle, from concave objects there are costrel, bottle, from clothes there is lingerie. The flower and some fruits symbolize woman’s genitals. There is also a line of activities associated with sexual activities, such as playing, dancing and so on.

On the occasion of the 185th birth anniversary

Summary

Petros A. Demirchyan-Doctor of Sciences in Philology
Raffi (Hakob Melik-Hakobyan) is one of the prominent Armenian writers whose fate was closely connected with the fate of the Motherland, and for the sake of the Motherland and the people, his literary and civil heroism paved the shortest path to immortality.

Indeed, the large-scale activities of Raffi and his erudition are surprising. He was a great novelist, warlike publicist, progressive thinker, patriotic figure.

Sincere interest in the historical fate of the people, high patriotic feelings forced the writer to look for new ways to deal with forces that impede the development of people and society. To this end, he got acquainted with the sociopolitical, philosophical and aesthetic views of European and Russian progressive thinkers Voltaire, Feuerbach, Rousseau, Belinsky, Dobrolubov and Chernyshevsky, inherited the creative principles of folk literature of H. Abovyan.

The ideological and creative flight that Raffi made, from the ideology of enlightenment to romanticism, to the greatest ideals of the true freedom of peoples, deserves deep respect and appreciation. This is the reason for the great aesthetic, national, social and historical value of the heritage of the great writer. His talented books “Samvel”, “David Bek”, “Sparks”, “Golden Rooster” and others are an encyclopedia of the historical life of the Armenian people, a school for the education of freedom and patriotism.

Raffi considered the problems of the Homeland and the people in his works based on the principles of historicism and national, including linguistic, unity.

Raffi’s highly artistic works were considered by many in the wider context of world literature of his time. Back in 1913, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the death of Raffi, Daniel Varuzhan wrote: “Raffi became the father of Armenian novelism. Our Scott, if you like, who was able to vividly invoke the past and prophesy about the future”.

A. Chopanyan also believed that some of Raffi’s works, such as “Samvel”, “The Fool” and others, could be presented to a foreign reader “and receive a warm welcome.” Moreover, with some reservations, he put the name of Raffi next to the names of Dickens, Balzac, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy.

Concerning some characters and episodes of Raffi’s novels, parallels also arise with the works of Shakespeare and Dostoevsky (“Richard III”, “The Brothers Karamazov”).

Of course, all this was not accidental. The basis for the abovementioned statements is provided by the work of Raffi himself, when considering it not only from the point of view of national, but also universal ideas, as well as from the point of view of the level of creative thinking of the writer.

(In Hovh. Tumanyan’s publicity)

Summary

Sergey A. Aghajanyan
The article presents an analysis of the observations on the Armenian identity in one of the most important parts of Hovh. Tumanyan’s literary heritage – in publicity.

The study consists of three main parts and summarizing conclusions.
The first part briefly reviews the main content and stylistic features of Hovh. Tumanyan’s publicity. It is pointed out that the key issue of that publicity is the revelation of the defects characteristic of the Armenian identity and their causes, the mentioning of the means of overcoming them. It is also shown that the sociological professionalism, honest and sincere patriotism of the author is evident in them, even in line with present-day standards, which his contemporaries did not always correctly understand and appreciate.

The second part of the study illustrates and explains the socio-political circumstances by which acknowledgement Hovh. Tumanyan became an active figure of literary and public life, serving it also with his unique identity of a writer. His active civic behavior also manifested itself in publicity not only as a formed worldview, a complex set of raised issues, but also a publicistic style and vocabulary. In this sense the objectivity and debatableness, being brief but at the same time subtstantive, often also imagery is inherent to his articles, etc.

The most extensive part of the article is the third one (“The Defects of the Armenian Identity and Their Causes”), in which the Tumanyan observations of the national identity are presented in three groups: the collective identity of the Armenian, the identity of the Armenian people, the identity of the Armenian intellectual. In all three cases, they are shown by Hovh. Tumanyan with differentiated assessments and qualifications, persuasive reasoning of the defects, the proposed solutions being conditioned with the author’s worldview. The historical and anthropological observations of the great intellectual are emphasized in the study, especially because they show the sociological depth of his mind and the generalizing power of the formed truths.

In the Tumanyan observations of the Armenian identity there are many characteristics and definitions worth of wise mind that are the result of both historical experience, and the wonderful knowledge of the vital realities and human descriptions of his time. Particularly with the latter circumstance is conditioned my reflection on the theoretical problems of retrospective evaluation of the national identity and historical experience, since they have not been ignored as well in Hovh. Tumanyan’s observations. The optimism about the future of the Armenian people expressed in the author’s publicity and its utopian manifestation are not neglected in the article, too.

The study concludes with resumptive conclusions that emphasize the relevance of Hovh. Tumanyan’s observations on national identity in our day as well, which should give rise to serious reflections for the people on the road to independence, especially for intellectuals.

From Hakob Paronyan to John Tolkien 

Summary

Albert A. Makaryan, Astghik V. Soghoyan
The periodical “Theatre: Friend to Children” (1876-1878, Constantinople) has its unique place in the context of H. Paronyan’s literary heritage. At first glance by contradicting to the latter’s perception of worldview, that is, comic and not being fitted into the widespread definition of pattern of “satiric author” Paronyan’s literary works for children supplement Paronyan’s satire and give them new emphasis and shades: if laughter is the ruthless mean for criticising the despicable features of the society, then the advice written in fatherly language educates the future society by eradicating those condemnable things just at the moment of their emergence.

The primary principal adopted by Paronyan is not to decieve children. Lie is the most criticised and condemned sin in the context of the author’s literary heritage for children, and the writer chosses the road of not decieving which is also expressed in the genre system of literary works published in the periodical: the prefered genre of Paronyan is realistic creation.

In the structure of the periodical the magic gets negative shade and meaning. In his periodical the great satirist gives place only to two fairy tales (“Red Varduk” and “The Ring of Gyges”) by trying to break the children’s faith in magic through them. He not only just presents those works but also tries to show logically the impossibility of the events described in them: the wolf can’t speak like man and the ring of invisibility doesn’t exist.

In the article the work “The Ring of Gyges” is analysed in the realationship of source-reproduction: this small work is a peculiar cultivation of the myth about Gyges based on versions by Plato and Herodotus. If the latters had referred to the myth from the perspective of history and philosophy, then the Armenian author has worked it out as a work for children adapting it to the worldview of the children. It is noteworthy that years after the reproduction by Paronyan the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien has put the same myth at the basis of his masterpieces, i.e., novels “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” by creating his works on the motive of the found ring of invisibility. The article observes the worked out version by Paronyan also in the context of parallels with those works.

Bibliography as straight line

Summary

Suren D. Danielyan

Key words – bibliography, Hakob Oshakan, Vahe Oshakan, Marc Nichanian, Artashes Der-Khachadourian, bibliographical data, criticism, press, narrative, tale, novel, criticism, mainstream of European mind.

The comprising of the Western Armenian great writer Oshakan’s bibliography had a long and hard way, that began since 1946s of the last century, when the writer was alive and interested in estimating his works. Our attention is focused on his collection “Qaghhanq” (“Chosen works”) (1946). After many years of bibliographical work Oshakan got a chance to overpass his literature and memorandum from merely personal circle to all European critical principals of his time. Since 30s Oshakan got acknowledged as a theorist and promoted Armenian literature all the way up to the level of world literature.

From this perspective Artashes Der-Khachadourian’s and Marc Nichanian’s bibliographical work (1999) is prominent and retains our attention as their analysis can be evaluated as remarkable literary piece in the bibliography of Armenian Literature.

In this article we have tried to show the main tendencies of the writer’s perception that brought to an ultimate conclusion: we are on the verge of a necessity for the compilation of new bibliography.

Summary

Astghik V. Soghoyan

Key words – lyric-epic plot, dialogue, narration, narrator, polyphony, Aghasi, action-event, perception, focusing, time contex.

The article is dedicated to the study of the narrative parts of the poem by Khachatur Abovyan “The Play of Aghasi”. It touches upon the plot of the work, that is, lyrical monologue and actions enclosed in feelings that are expressed through dialogues. The poem is constructed by the principle of polyphony: the only accomplished action is carried out by the lyrical hero Aghasi through his dialogue with the mountain Masis (Ararat), in the scope of his perceptions such accomplished actions are also taking place around other characters who take up the thread of narration and begin telling different events. Within this hierarchic structure in the words of the literary hero the words uttered by others are originating and thus the five-leveled narrations are created.

The primary aim of this article is to reveal the relationship between those voices, to study the characters of the narrators, hierarchy, the classification of their narrations, time context and perception.