Khachatur Abovyan
Chatschatur Abovjan , ( Armenian Խաչատուր Աբովեան ; * October 15, 1809 in Kanaker near Yerevan , Yerevan Khanate , today Armenia ; † on or after April 14, 1848 ; in a different English transcription Khachatur Abovian also Abovyan ) is the father of modern Armenian literature .
Life
Khachatur Abovyan was born in 1809 in the village of Kanaker, now a suburb of Yerevan , the capital of Armenia. He received his education in Echmiadzin (1819-1822) and at the Nersisian School in Tbilisi (1824-1826). In 1828 Abovjan saw Yerevan conquered by Russian troops. The following year Abovyan worked as a translator and secretary at the Catholic of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Echmiadzin. In 1829 he took part as a guide and interpreter in the first ascent of Mount Ararat by Friedrich Parrot (1792–1841). Friedrich Parrot was the Imperial Russian State Councilor and professor of natural philosophy at the University of Dorpat (now Tartu , Estonia ). He organized a state scholarship for Abowjan for the University of Dorpat, which was then dominated by German scientists.
Returned to the Caucasus , Abovian took a position as school inspector of the school district of Tbilisi (1837-1843). He also held this position in Yerevan, where he was released in March 1843 and disappeared under mysterious circumstances on April 2, 1848. There was suspicion that the tsarist secret police had murdered him. The city of Abovian has been named in his honor since 1963. The most prominent street in the center of Yerevan is also named after him.
plant
Khachatur Abovyan is considered to be the founder of modern Armenian literature. He was the first writer to write in New East Armenian , while until then literature was written in Old Armenian , which only the educated upper class understood. Abovyan wrote the first Armenian novel in 1841 (Armenia's Leiden, Վէրք Հայաստանի, published posthumously in 1858) and as the first literature especially for children in the Armenian language. The novel is set at the time of the Russo-Persian War 1826–1828 .
Abovjan translated works by Homer , Friedrich Schiller , Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , Nikolai Michailowitsch Karamsin and Iwan Andrejewitsch Krylow into Armenian.
Honors
The Soviet Post issued a special stamp to mark the 100th anniversary of Abovyan's death in 1948 .
literature
- Rouben Paul Adalian: Historical dictionary of Armenia . In: Asian / Oceanian historical dictionaries . No. 41 . Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Md./London 2002, ISBN 0-8108-4337-4 .
- Kevork B. Bardakjian: A reference guide to modern Armenian literature, 1500-1920. with an introductory history . Wayne State University Press, Detroit 2000, ISBN 0-8143-2747-8 .
- Tessa Hofmann : The Armenians: Fate, Culture, History . DA Verlag Das Andere, Nuremberg 1993, ISBN 3-922619-25-8 .
- Marc Nichanian: Ages et usages de la langue arménienne . Editions Entente, Paris 1989, ISBN 2-7266-0089-1 .
Web links
- Ruth Bedevian: Writer and Patriot - Khachatur Abovyan. In: armenianhouse.org (English)
- Biography and Armenia's suffering. In: armenianhouse.org (Russian)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Abovyan, Khachatur |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Abovian, Khachatur; Abowian, Chatschatur |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Armenian author and writer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 15, 1809 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kanaker, Yerevan |
| DATE OF DEATH | after April 14, 1848 |
| Place of death | Yerevan |