Armenian literature

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Armenian Bible

Armenian literature is Christian-Oriental literature that - like its language - never died out, and thus formed a national and historical link with a high degree of identification. It is the spiritual and secular national literature of the Armenian people. Its beginnings go back to the year 405 AD, which is associated with the invention of the Armenian alphabet . Traditional Armenian literature is national literature, arose from the ties to the homeland of the Armenians, who created poetry for the glory of their country in history and in the chronicles. Translations also form an important part of classical Armenian literature.

history

According to legend, the Armenians owned temple literature in their pre-Christian epoch, which was so thoroughly destroyed by the Christian clergy in the course of Christianization in the 4th and 5th centuries that barely twenty lines of it were in the history of Moses von Choren (9th century) .) have been preserved.

The ancient Armenian literature

The beginnings of Armenian Christian literature ( Golden Age of Armenian Literature 407–451) begin around the year 405 with the invention of the Armenian alphabet by Mesrop Maschtotz . It is probably an older alphabet to which Mesrop added vowels; a legend, however, attributed it to a direct divine inspiration. With the perfected alphabet, Isaac , Catholicos of Armenia , created a school of translators whose students were sent to Edessa , Athens , Constantinople , Alexandria , Antioch , Caesarea , Cappadocia, and elsewhere to acquire and translate Syrian and Greek manuscripts. The first version of the New Testament , Euseb's ecclesiastical history and biography of Constantine, the homilies of Aphraates , the story of Gurias and Samuna , the works of Ephrem the Syrian (partly published in four volumes by the Mechitharists of Venice ) or the work of (Pseudo -) Faustus of Byzantium ( Buzandaran Patmut'iwnk ). At the beginning of the fifth century some of the apocryphal works were also written, such as the treatises of St. Gregory , the "History of the Armenians" ascribed to Agathangelus , as well as works by other well-known personalities. Numerous original works were also created in this early period of Armenian literature. Eznik von Kołb wrote a "Refutation of the Sects" and Koryun the "Life History of Saint Mesrop and the Beginnings of Armenian Literature"; both were students of Mesrop.

Armenian manuscript

In the Silver Age (after 451) the vernacular influenced literature. Ghazar von Parp created historical works; In addition to the translations of the church fathers, that of the Alexander novel was created . The Hellenistic influence made itself felt in efforts to subject the Armenian language to the rules of the Greek grammarist Dionysius Thrax . Numerous translations by Greek philosophers found their way into Armenian libraries in this context. Essentially, however, the authors who write Armenian stuck to their language:

The ancient Armenian literature lived on until the medieval small Armenian-Cilician empire.

Central Armenian Literature

A "pamphlet against the Paulikians " (a heretical movement) as well as a "Synodalschrift" and a collection of the council resolutions and the writings of the church fathers up to the present emerged as main works in this epoch. Around the same time, translations of the works of several Church Fathers, especially Gregory of Nyssa and Cyril of Alexandria, penned by Bishop Stephen of Siunia, appeared .

Since the 10th century, Armenian literature has developed under stable conditions of regained independence and flourishing trade with neighboring countries. The well-known "History of Armenia" by Catholicos Johann VI. spanned the period from the origin of the nation to the year 925. His contemporary Anania von Mok , an abbot and the most respected theologian of his time, wrote a treatise against the Tondrakians , a Manichean sect. Chosrau, Bishop of Andzevatsentz, is valued for his interesting comments on the breviary and the mass prayers. Gregor von Narek , his son, is considered an Armenian Pindar , from whose pen the “Book of Elegies” (1002) comes with 10,000. Stephen Asoghtk's "Universal History" extended to the year 1004, and Gregor Magistros ' long poem on the Old and New Testaments found many uses.

This bloom, which also encompassed scientific literature and socially critical currents, culminated in the Armenian "renaissance" of the 12th century. Catholicos Nerses IV , the Gracious, is the most important author at the beginning of this period. In addition to his poetic works such as the "Elegy on the Conquest of Edessa" there are prose works including a "Pastoral Letter", a "Synodal Script" and his "Letters". A commentary on Luke and a commentary on the Catholic Letters also date from this period. Also noteworthy is the synodal address given by Nerses of Lambron , Archbishop of Tarsus, on the occasion of the Council of Hromkla in 1179. Vartan the Great was born in the 13th century , a great poet, exegete and theologian and known for his extensive "universal history". Gregory of Datev created his "Question Book" in the following century, a sharp polemic against the Catholics.

Haghob Megapart First Armenian publisher in Venice

The fall of the Armenian-Cilician Empire brought about by Timur and the subsequent conquests of the Tartars, Persians and Turks began in the fourteenth century a not very productive phase that lasted into the eighteenth century. In the sixteenth century Armenia was under Persian domination, which stifled a literary life in the country - the great exception is Nahapet Kutschak , whose stanzas called Hairen (he composed a total of 101) represent a high point of Armenian literature. The troubadour poetry of Sayat Nova from the 18th century was passed down in both Azerbaijani and Armenian .

The emergence of an Armenian literature in the diaspora

However, a positive effect can also be seen in the dispersal of the Armenians in all parts of Europe resulting from foreign rule. The Armenians founded printing works in Venice and Rome and in the following 17th century also in Lemberg , Milan , Paris , and later in Madras , Trieste , Leipzig (1680), St. Petersburg , Calcutta , Vienna and Moscow . Old works were reissued and new ones continued. The learned brotherhood of the Mechitarists of Venice, founded by Mechitar von Sebaste (1676–1749), were the bearers of this movement, which kept the Armenian language alive through the publication of dictionaries and grammars. Her writings were large in number, but often poor in reliability. Her confreres, the Viennese Mechitarists, were also among the activists in this profession; their company included Balgy and Catergian , two well-known authors on Armenia. In the first half of the 19th century, the graduates of the mechitarists in Venice founded the classical school of Armenian poetry. The annexation of Eastern Armenia to Russia led to new impulses for development, which were supported by the Lazarewski Institute for Oriental Languages ​​in Moscow. There taught Harutiun Alamdarian , the founder of the Armenian romance. There were other centers of Armenian literary activity in Constantinople and Etchmiadzin ; The latter place (seat of the "Catholicos of All Armenians") is of particular importance, since scientific methods from Germany were established there in the 20th century.

New Armenian

In the 19th century, mainly through the work of the Enlightenment romantic Chatschatur Abovjan , who studies with Friedrich Parrot in Dorpat , the new Armenian found its way into Armenian literature. It provided a basis for research into the history of literature as well as for the development of new genres in fiction. Abovjan’s programmatic novel “The Wound of Armenia” embodied this program. The romantic-patriotic poet Mikael Nalbandian also worked on creating an Armenian literary identity. Nalbandian's poem "Song of an Italian Girl" was the inspiration for the Armenian national anthem Mer Hayrenik .

In the following period, based on the New East Armenian dialect, a realistic prose with close references to Russian and German literature developed since the 1870s, while the New West Armenian dialect, which was widespread in Turkey and the diaspora, has connections to French and American literature (see also the spelling reform of the Armenian language 1922–1924 ).

Gazaros Agaian (1840–1911) devoted himself to the analysis of Armenian village life in his novels. The East Armenian novelist Raffi (Hakob Melik Hakobian, 1835–1888), who was born in Tehran , was best known for the three-volume epic Kaycer (“Spark”). The foundations of the Armenian theater were laid by the East Armenian Gabriel Sundukian (1825–1912) following the experiences of Gogol . With the socially critical comedy Pepo (1871) he marked the first high point of the Armenian theater. The western Armenian Hakop Paronian (1843–1891) portrayed the increasing social contradictions of village life in comedies and biting prose.

In both parts of Armenia, social conflicts came to a head in the 1880s and 1890s; In addition, there were the first pogroms in 1894–96 under Sultan Abdul Hamid II. This led to the further spread of socially critical realism in poetry, but above all in prose: The Western Armenian Tigran Kamsarakan (1866–1941) scored one in the Diaspora in Constantinople in 1888 great success with the novel The Teacher's Daughter , the story of a Mésalliance , which has been reissued over and over again. Alexander Schirwanzade (1858–1935), who was born in today's Azerbaijan, wrote several socially critical novels and socio-psychological stories.

At the beginning of the 20th century there was also an upswing in poetry, which in Eastern Armenia went back in part to the national literary tradition. Howhannes Tumanjan (1869–1923) also took suggestions from Pushkin , Lermontows , Byron and Goethe and dealt with the hard life of the peasants in the Lori province in his realistic poems . This current flowed into a proletarian-socialist direction represented by Wahan Terian (1885–1920), Hakop Hakopjan (1866–1937) and others. The western Armenian poets - mostly under the influence of an education in western Europe - borrowed from symbolism ; many of them such as Siamanto , Daniel Waruschan and Krikor Zohrab fell victim to the Armenian genocide .

Soviet Armenian literature

Not least because of this, many poets welcomed the October Revolution as a way to save their people. These included Yeghic Tscharenz (Čarenc, 1897–1937), the rousing poems in Mayakovsky's style (“The Raging Masses”, 1919), but also novels based on society (“Das Land Nairi”, 1922–1926) and even wrote about the Stalinist terror Victim fell. Mkrtich Armen wrote numerous short stories and novels in the 1920s and 1930s. He described the superstition and rigid social rules of village life that made love relationships difficult or destroyed ( Helnar albyur , 1935, French: La Fontaine d'Héghnar , 1993). After a period of exile in Siberia, he began to write again in the 1950s. (1906–1972) Stepan Zorian (1889–1967) and Derenik Demirchian (1877–1956) wrote historical novels of special importance during the Second World War.

Statue of Gevorg Emins in the Lovers' Park in Yerevan

Rafayel Aramjan (1921–1978) portrayed daily life after the war. The adventure stories by Wachtang Ananjan (1905–1980) were read with pleasure by young people in the GDR (“Prisoners of the Panther Gorge ”, 1968). Ruslan Sagabaljan (* 1951) encoded ethical and moral problems in his science fiction novels. The work of the narrator Hrant Matevosjan (1935–2002) has been translated into over 40 languages. He also worked as a screenwriter and director and received the State Prize of the USSR for literature in 1984. Among the authors from the 1950s to 1970s, the poets Silwa Kaputikjan (1919–2006) and Maro Makarian (1916–) should be mentioned. Trained as an electrical engineer, Gevorg Emin (1918–1998) was a prominent poet and translator who was influenced by French symbolism and who freed poetry from the restrictions of the Stalin era. His work also inspired other Armenian authors to experiment.

The time since regaining independence

David Mouradian (* 1951) is a cosmopolitan writer, dramaturge and screenwriter. He advocated the development of Armenian film (at times also as deputy Armenian minister of culture). The lyric poet Violette Krikorian , born in Tehran in 1962 , came to Armenia in 1975 and began to write in the 1990s. Her work has been translated into French. Armen Melikian returned from the USA in 2002 and began to write in the Eastern Armenian language, but his book Journey to Virginland , published in the USA in 2010, counts in satirical form with fundamental crisis phenomena in Armenian society - with the dominance of religion, traditional gender relations and an omnipresent one Corruption - and thereby calls into question their national identity.

Newer authors of the Armenian diaspora

Many Armenian authors in the diaspora keep the traditions alive but write in English or other languages. The best known among them was certainly William Saroyan , who described his fate as an immigrant son in the USA. Armenian authors also work in Lebanon and France. The author Agapi Mkrtchian, born in 1956, has lived in Germany since 1986 . The genocide of the Armenians has recently been addressed by Peter Balakian ( Sad Days of Light, Black Dog of Fate , German: "The Dogs of Ararat", 2009, The Burning Tigris ), Margaret Ajemian Ahnert ( The Knock at the Door , 2007 ), Chris Bohjalian ( The Sandcastle Girls , 2012) and the Romanian politician and writer Varujan Vosganian (* 1958).

See also

literature

  • Karekin Sarkissian: A Brief Introduction to Armenian Christian Literature , Faith Press, London 1960.
  • Robert W. Thomson: A Bibliography of Classical Armenian Literature to 1500 AD. (Corpus Christianorum). Brepols, Turnhout 1995. 325 pp. ISBN 2-503-50456-6
  • Robert W. Thomson: Supplement to A Bibliography of Classical Armenian Literature to 1500 AD . In: Le Muséon 120. 2007, pp. 163-223.
  • Adelheid Latchinian: The Armenian Literature . in: Kindlers new literature lexicon , Munich 1996. Vol. 20, pp. 596–601.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ludwig Wachler: History of the recent erudition. Fourth part: Handbook of the history of literature. Third makeover. Barth Verlagsgesellschaft Leipzig 1833, p. 129.