Leon Surmelian
Leon Zaven Surmelian ( Armenian Լեւոն Զաւէն Սիւրմէլեան ; born November 24, 1905 in Trabzon , Ottoman Empire ; died October 3, 1995 in Los Angeles ) was an American writer of Armenian origin.
Life
Leon Surmelian was the son of a pharmacist in Trabzon. In the Armenian genocide in 1915, Surmelian lost both parents and was first adopted by a family friend, a doctor of Greek origin. After the turmoil of the war he attended an agricultural school in Turkey in Armasch (near İzmit ) from 1918 and then went to a church orphanage in Constantinople . In 1922 he emigrated to the USA with an Armenian organization . He attended universities in Nebraska and California.
In 1931 he became editor of the Armenian Messenger in Los Angeles . In 1945 he published his first book, the (autobiographical) story of a ten-year-old boy in the Armenian genocide. Surmelian received teaching positions at schools and universities, so between 1961 and 1974 courses in creative writing at UCLA .
Surmelian translated the Armenian national epic David of Sassun into English.
Works (selection)
-
I ask you, ladies and gentlemen . Novel. London: V. Gollancz, 1946
- Soruyorum size hanımlar ve beyler: roman . Foreword by William Saroyan . Zülal Kılıç translates from English into Turkish. İstanbul: Aras, 2013 ISBN 978-605-57-5339-9 . Vita on pages 7 and 8.
- 98.6.̊ . Novel. New York, Dutton, 1950
- Daredevils of Sassoun: the Armenian national epic . Translation of Leon Z Surmelian. Denver: Alan Swallow, 1964
-
For apples of Immortality: Folktales of Armenia . Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968
- Armenian fairy tales and folk tales . Collected and edited by Leon Surmelian. Translated from English by Zora Shaked. Frankfurt am Main: Insel-Verlag, 1991
- Techniques of Fiction Writing: Measure and Madness . Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1968
literature
- Bruce Clark , Thomas de Waal : Thomas de Waal recommends the best books on Memoirs of the Armenian Catastrophe , at fivebooks, April 24, 2015
Web links
- Literature by and about Leon Surmelian in the catalog of the German National Library
- Literature by and about Leon Surmelian in the WorldCat bibliographic database
- Leon Surmelian , at Suhrkamp
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bruce Clark, see en: Bruce Clark (journalist) in the English Wikipedia
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Surmelian, Leon |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Surmelian, Leon Zaven (full name); Սիւրմէլեան, Լեւոն Զաւէն (Armenian) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American writer of Armenian descent |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 24, 1905 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Trabzon |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 3, 1995 |
| Place of death | Los Angeles , California |