Letter to Yerevan

Letter to Yerevan

This story begins with a short, slanderous political attack by one writer, and continues with a lengthy rebuttal by anotherâ€”a self-appointed target who took it upon himself to respond in kind: in verse.

Written in 1944 in response to Soviet Armenian writer Gevorg Abov's Â«Õ„Õ¥Õ¶Ö„ Õ¹Õ¥Õ¶Ö„ Õ´Õ¸Õ¼Õ¡ÖÕ¥Õ¬Â» ("Menk chenk moratsel," "We Have Not Forgotten"), and published the following year, Â«Ô¹Õ¸Ö‚Õ²Õ© Õ¡Õ¼ ÔµÖ€Õ¥Ö‚Õ¡Õ¶Â» (Tught ar Yerevan, Letter to Yerevan) made Tzarukian a prominent voice in the Armenian Diaspora almost overnightâ€”from the Middle East to Europe and the Americas. The poem was republished more than a dozen times in various Armenian communitiesâ€”including in Syria, the United States, Lebanon, and Cyprusâ€”up until the early 1990s, and as a result became a source of inspiration for tens of thousands.

Published by the 120-year-old Hairenik Press, this is the first English translation of Tzarukian's Letter to Yerevan.

The translation was a collaborative effort between the former director of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) and First Republic of Armenia Archives and former editor of the Armenian Review Tatul Sonentz-Papazian and former editor of the Armenian Weekly Rupen Janbazian. It features an in-depth introduction by another former editor of the Armenian Weekly and the volumeâ€™s English editor, Vahe Habeshian, as well as six original illustrations by Yerevan-based artist Meruzhan Khachatryan. The Armenian language republication was edited by Yeprem Tokjian of Toronto.

The publication of Letter to Yerevan is the first of several initiatives planned celebrating the 120th anniversary of the Hairenik Association. All the proceeds from book sales will be donated to the Hairenik Associationâ€™s Newspaper Digitization Project.

About the Author

Born in GÃ¼rÃ¼n, Tzarukian attracted fame as both a writer and a journalist-publicist, whose periodical Â«Õ†Õ¡ÕµÕ«Ö€Õ«Â» (Nayiri, 1941-1983) remains an indispensable record for students of the Armenian Dispersion. Among his most prominent works, Â«Õ„Õ¡Õ¶Õ¯Õ¸Ö‚Õ©Õ«Ö‚Õ¶ Õ¹Õ¸Ö‚Õ¶Õ¥ÖÕ¸Õ² Õ´Õ¡Ö€Õ¤Õ«Õ¯Â» (People Without a Childhood, 1955) and Â«ÔµÖ€Õ¡Õ¦Õ¡ÕµÕ«Õ¶ Õ€Õ¡Õ¬Õ§ÕºÕ¨Â» (Ethereal Aleppo, 1980) are autobiographical accounts dedicated to his childhood life in the orphanage of Aleppo. He published only one collection of verse, Aragastner (Sails), and bade farewell to poetry in Tught ar Yerevan (Letter to Yerevan).

About the Publisher

Established in 1899 and based in Watertown, Mass., the Hairenik Press is the publishing division of the Hairenik Association.
Country USA
Brand CREATESPACE
Manufacturer CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Binding Paperback
UnitCount 1
EANs 9781727508451
ReleaseDate 0000-00-00

Country	USA
Brand	CREATESPACE
Manufacturer	CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Binding	Paperback
UnitCount	1
EANs	9781727508451
ReleaseDate	0000-00-00

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