CRITICS'FORUM - Literature


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Literature

Apr 2009 | Myth and Memoir in Black Dog of Fate, by Hovig Tchalian (60 KB)
The winter of 2009 saw the publication of the 10th anniversary edition of Peter Balakian’s award-winning 1997 Black Dog of Fate: A Memoir (Basic Books, NY: 2009). The book bears, on its cover, the additional subtitle, An American Son Uncovers His Armenian Past. The description aptly encompasses not only this volume but Balakian’s broader stance vis-à-vis his Armenian identity – he has consistently cast himself as the outsider looking in or, perhaps more accurately, inward.

Feb 2009 | Of Pedagogy and Cultural Production: Armenian Language Instruction in the Diaspora, by Talar Chahinian (26 KB)
Every fall, the Board of Regents of Prelacy Armenian Schools organizes a professional development day for teachers working in California’s private Armenian schools, whether they be affiliated with the Prelacy or not. This year, I had the opportunity to participate in this one-day seminar by leading one of the workshops designed to address questions of methodology and curriculum for the schools’ Armenian language and literature departments.

Jul 2008 | A Shared History of 1915: Fethiye Çetin’s My Grandmother and the Turkish Memoir Trend, by Talar Chahinian (123 KB)
Over the last decade, there has been an increased interest in the unraveling stories of an older generation of women with hidden Armenian identities living in Turkey. This interest has been augmented by the growing trend of memoirs, which recount the stories of these women framed within the autobiographical narrative of the grandchild.

Apr 2008 | Genocide and the Historical Imagination, by Hovig Tchalian (601 KB)
It is difficult in the month of April to escape the temptation, the seeming inevitability, of writing on a topic dealing with the Genocide. The necessity of that exercise in this “cruelest month” perhaps renders the famous opening lines of T. S. Eliot’s epic poem, The Wasteland, now become cliché, nonetheless an apt epigraph to this article.

Sep 2007 | Viken Berberian's Das Kapital: A Post-Script, by Hovig Tchalian (45 KB)
This article about Viken Berberian’s second and well-publicized novel, Das Kapital: A Novel of Love + Money Markets (Simon and Schuster, 2007) is a post-script in two related ways: it appears just after a flurry of articles about the novel, both in Armenian and international periodicals; and it is about a novel that is itself a post-modern homage to Karl Marx’s monumental work of the same name.

Nov 2006 | The Authentic in Fiction: Aris Janigian's Bloodvine, by Hovig Tchalian (66 KB)
After several articles on topical subjects, I would like to discuss a novel published before the advent of Critics’ Forum – Aris Janigian’s Bloodvine (Heyday, 2003; Great Valley Books, 2005; all page references are to the later edition).

Aug 2006 | An African Journal: The Translated Stories of Raymond Boghos Kupelian, by Hovig Tchalian (35 KB)
The recently published collection of stories by Raymond Boghos Kupelian, African Symphony (AuthorHouse, 2006), marks a return of sorts, for both the author and his readers.

May 2006 | An Archive in a Footnote: The Legacy Project, by Hovig Tchalian (21 KB)
Now that the tumult of events surrounding Genocide commemoration has subsided, it is worth taking pause and considering the aftermath. The inevitable moment after (especially once the celebrations of May 28th are also past) brings up the difficult but enduring question–“What now?” or, more skeptically, “Is this all there is?”

Jan 2006 | The Presence of the Past in the Poetry of Peter Balakian, by Hovig Tchalian (27 KB)
The year 2004 saw the publication of the most recent paperback edition of Peter Balakian’s poetry. The slim, attractive volume, entitled June-Tree: New and Selected Poems, 1974-2000, includes thirteen new works and selections from Balakian’s four previous collections.

Nov 2005 | The Lost Generation: The Poetry of David Kherdian, by Hovig Tchalian (22 KB)
The Armenian-American poet, novelist and essayist David Kherdian, has been writing for decades. His new book of poems, entitled Letters to My Father (2005), represents his latest effort.

Oct 2005 | Gevorg Emin: The Task of the Translator, by Hovig Tchalian (32 KB)
In a famous essay entitled “The Task of the Translator” (1923), the German-Jewish cultural critic, Walter Benjamin (1982-1940), describes “bad” translation as “the inaccurate transmission of an inessential content.”

Sep 2005 | Curious Sightings: Armenian Papers, by Hovig Tchalian (24 KB)
This week’s article looks at a collection of poems neither new nor recently re-published but nonetheless relevant. I refer to a curious collection of poems published by the American man of letters, Harry Mathews. The collection bears the even more curious title, Armenian Papers: Poems 1954-1984.

Aug 2005 | The Path Not Taken: My Brother's Road, by Hovig Tchalian (22 KB)
The recently published biography by Markar Melkonian, My Brother’s Road: An American’s Fateful Journey to Armenia, begins with an interesting premise—what kind of a man was the subject of the book and the author’s brother, Monte “Avo” Melkonian?

Jul 2005 | The Daydreaming Boy: A Debate, by Hovig Tchalian and Ara Oshagan (26 KB)
In last week’s article, the first in the Critics’ Forum series, I wrote about Micheline Aharonian Marcom’s 2004 novel, The Daydreaming Boy.

July 2005 | The Curse of History: The Daydreaming Boy, by Hovig Tchalian (24 KB)
Perhaps the best way of inaugurating our series on art and literature in the Armenian Diaspora is by looking back. In April of 2004, Riverhead Books published The Daydreaming Boy, the second book by Micheline Aharonian Marcom, a Saudi-born Armenian writer raised in Los Angeles.

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