Part III, the final part of Literature in Translation, takes us from 1920 up to 1946. The post-World War II era saw further developments in terms of translations which lie beyond the scope of this feature (but could form the basis for future ones).Click here to read the full feature.
In the first part of this feature we looked at works translated into Armenian and published between 1845 and 1909. Part II continues with volumes published from 1910 until 1915. The years just prior to World War I seem to have been an especially busy time for such publications.
NAASR’s Mardigian Library contains innumerable works of literature translated into Armenian from many languages. The works translated span from ancient to contemporary writings, and the focus of this feature will be on the 19th and first half of the 20th century when tremendous efforts were made to make non-Armenian (mainly western) literary works accessible to the growing Armenian readership in Eastern Armenia, Western Armenia, and throughout the diaspora.
The figure at the center of this installment of Treasures of NAASR’s Mardigian Library is the noted—while also being under-known—Western Armenian author and educator Hovhannēs Harut‘iwnean (ՅովհաննէսՅարութիւնեան, ca. 1860-1915), better known by his chosen pen-name of T‘lgadints‘i (Թլկատինցի).We feature here some publications of his work as well as those focusing on his work, including a special issue of Nor Kir [Nor Gir], the literary journal published by Peniamin Noorigian, which, thanks to Aram Andonian, included some previously unpublished works by T‘lgadints‘i, as well as two photographs from our collections.
Franz Werfel’s novelDie Vierzig Tage des Musa Dagh(The Forty Days of Musa Dagh), originally published in Berlin by Paul Zsolnay Verlag in 1933, is undoubtedly the most famous work of literature that focuses on the Armenian Genocide. We pause to remember the contribution Werfel (1890-1945) made, in the year 2020 which marks the 130thanniversary of his birth and the 75thanniversary of his death.