Milena Velba And Motorbikes

Dzaroukian - Gurgen Mahari - Vartkes Bedrossian - Armenian Folk Songs of the Middle Ages / Medieval Armenian Popular Songs

Gurgen Mahari by Andranik Kochar
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Antranig Dzaroukian - Gurgen Mahari - Vartkes Bedrossian - Armenian Folk Songs of the Middle Ages / Medieval Armenian Popular Songs

by Eddie Arnavoudian

www.groong.org

1.

Antranig Dzaroukian est davantage connu comme l’énergique éditeur de Naïri , périodique beyrouthin, grandement apprécié. Mais il fut aussi poète et romancier. Son meilleur ouvrage est, à mon avis, Ceux dont l’enfance a basculé , récit autobiographique de son périple dans les déserts et les orphelinats de Syrie. Dzaroukian reprend des épisodes de son enfance durant laquelle la misère, l’hostilité, la violence, la haine et la soif de vengeance l’emportent sur ces émotions plus amènes et joyeuses que nous associons normalement à nos jeunes années. Des orphelinats aux règlements severe and basic comfort, that bury all innocence and joy. Aged 6 to 8 years, boys who live there already learned to live as adults, adults primitive. At 6 years, they are cold and hard, selfish, greedy and interested. They have no choice. Condition of survival in their world of deprivation, poverty and deprivation, they should dispose of any altruism, all sweetness and tenderness throughout. Hence a brutal struggle for the smallest piece of bread, the use of flight and brutality.

Dzaroukian has the merit of not portraying the suffering of these young boys with emotional expressions of these hackneyed and meaningless, that our literature is so often shows. In contrast, the tragedy in which their souls are experiencing is revealed through descriptions of events of everyday life. Despite the violence of their lives, in each description, even the most sordid scene Darwinian hides among these boys a secret desire to love, love, friendship and human solidarity. Alas, it is only lurking in the background, like buds which water is denied. And do not thrive. But they do not die - even at the height of selfish struggle for survival. Jitter in these stubborn, brought to perfection, of human dignity in these images of human nobility in darkness orphanages, we experience the boundless tragedy of those who survived the genocide. Therein lies the suffering of a child's privacy. But there also lies the dream that is resistant, even in the darkest hell.

2.

Gurgen Mahari (1903-1969) was a poet, a novelist and playwright, suffering innumerable. Van orphan survivor, he ended his days in Yerevan, but only after long and exhausting trips to the camps of Siberia in Russia. It was nevertheless a prolific writer, although much of his work is of questionable value. Yet his book, The Threshold of youth, is another valuable testimony about the autobiographical childhood and youth, an amiable and well-written evocation of life in Van and Yerevan, which sends us a clear sense of what meant to survive the genocide for a young orphan.

Mahari's story indulges frequently sharp insights, but still oblique, on contemporary social and political issues. Neither they nor the religious, cultural or national then occupy a central place in the book, but as testimony on the history of a vanished era of blood and suffering, everything is moving and sometimes admirable. Mahari draw to the attention of readers with portraits, which are all snapshots charming characters 'ordinary', but really extraordinary, which are struggling against all odds to survive and live. For these survivors of the genocide, orphanages were bases from which they grew up looking for a new life. Some of them became great poets and writers. Yet those whom we remember most are the orphans in tears with their hopes, their hunger and their rags, their humble love and most importantly, their vast dreams.

3.

The first and last of the Four New Vartkes Bedrossian return of sincerity, authenticity and realism, many aspects of human existence and ordinary women, "not indoctrinated" in Soviet Armenia. Bedrossian was a talented writer who managed to circumvent the parameters, destructive to art, "Soviet Socialist Realism." Result, we have the tables subtle and sensitive to the alienated existence of the Armenian youth in the twilight of the Soviet era.

In "Lives lived and not lived," a depressed journalist is to investigate the suicide of two young lovebirds, who were denounced and excluded by the youth section the Communist Party. Rebelling against the "line" set in advance of the Party on this issue, the investigation reveals the stifling of "socialist morality" dominant. In reality, it is only religious prejudice and ancient Armenian peasant moral, modified and tricked out socialist trappings. The couple apparently betrayed the honor of the family and party by making love inside the village as they are hunted by the family and the Party and led to despair.

The fourth story, "The End master ", is of equal quality to the first. There, the scandal of a few students by stripping takes us on a fascinating journey through the hierarchy of corrupt education system. Learning by heart has replaced critical thinking and interests of students count for nothing, while teachers are only concerned to maintain discipline and spend their time without too much trouble. In this world of brutality, and atrophied spineless, a character wanders sincere honesty and integrity. Mamiani efforts with children, its human reactions to events and relationships with local families to deliver a vivid picture of modern Armenian life, before the fall of the Soviet Union.

Seasoned sharp observations on life, the individual psyche and the human condition, these stories convey a reflection on human life beyond the borders of the Soviet Union, within which they were writings.

4.

Armenian Folk Songs of the Middle Ages a book first published in 1956, is a truly superb anthology of some 140 Armenian folk songs, very well annotated, from 10th to 17th century. The editor, Assadour Mnatzaganian, opens with a brilliant introductory essay that explores the world today far from the Armenian peasantry during those endless centuries, rough and brutal.

By using plain language and pleasantly free from any dogmatism boring, Mnatzaganian unveils the world of men behind the allegorical tales of battles between heaven and earth, the clashes between seasons and back stories of peacocks, birds and sheep. All the pain and suffering, anguish and despair, but also the hope and optimism resonate with ordinary people through these songs.

Mnatzaganian Maxim Gorky quoted in that folklore often results in parallel to official history, filling the voids in the latter, in particular regarding the existence of "little people". This book confirms again the observation of Gorky. Virtually all aspects of life - work, love, wonder of the seasons, issues of religion, war, conquest and migration, eternal struggle slaves to freedom - are contained in these songs, some of which reach to the most delicate art form.

[ Arnavoudian Eddie is a graduate of history and political science from Manchester, England. He regularly addresses topics in literary and political Haratch (Paris) and Nairi (Beirut). His essays also appear in Open Letter (Los Angeles).]

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Source: http://groong.usc.edu/tcc/tcc-20000305.html
Article published on 05/03/2000
Translation: © George Festa - 01.2011
Courtesy of Eddie Arnavoudian.