The second of Levon Sharoyan’s interview pertain to the Western Armenian Literature in the Diaspora. The interview should be looked in the context of Aleppo Armenian community, where Western Armenian language and literature are still preserved to an extent. But Western Armenian language is for all practical purposes has run its course in the West. Vaհe H Apelian
Levon Sharoyan and some of his books
Question- As a servant of Armenian literature and an educational worker, do you think Western Armenian is really an endangered language?
Levon Sharoyan.- For decades, this question has been constantly raised to our intellectuals. We can even go back a hundred years to Shahan Shahnour’s novel “Retreat without Song” and listen to the tumultuous cry that bursts out from its pages. “The language is retreating, the language is retreating, the language is retreating…”
While Shahnour was sounding such an alarm, in his immediate neighborhood, on the soil of France, young Armenian writers were contributing wonderful works to our literature, written in a very durable, beautiful and refined Armenian language. Remember the lyrical prose of Vazken Shoushanian, the family-friendly tales of Shavarsh Nartouni, the classic novels of Zareh Vorpuni, the charming descriptive pages of Nigoghos Sarafian, the witty and colorful vocabulary of satirist Nshan Beshiktashlian, even Garo Poladian’s works, the writings of the publicist Shavarsh Missakian as the editor of “Harach” Daily, and many others.
It seems that the alarm Shahnour sounded at that time did not refer to Armenian literature (which breathed a healthy and vibrant language), but to the assimilation of the popular classes; its loss of identity, and the gradual disappearance of family customs (including the use of the native language).
Today, however, the situation is completely different. We find ourselves nationally in front of a real abyss. All the levers which enabled the Armenian Diaspora maintain itself for 70-80 years are now subject to wear and tear. Wear and tear, in the case of any object or device, is a natural phenomenon. You repair your worn-out tool, polish it, and then use it again for many years!
In our case, we have not repaired the “worn-out devices”, we have abandoned them to their fate, we have watched them rust….
Let me explain in clearer words.
You ask me about the dangers threatening the Western Armenian language. What to say? The “danger” has long since arrived, enveloped and kidnapped the Western Armenian language and is now rapidly leading it towards unknown dark horizons.
Look. The Western Armenian language, which is the ONLY TANGIBLE HERITAGE that has reached us from the lost Western Armenia, lived and breathed after the Great Genocide, relying on four pillars: the Armenian-speaking communities (in the initial period of the formation of the Diaspora, almost all of our communities were Armenian-speaking); the Diaspora Armenian press, Armenian literature, and the Armenian school.
Today, it is not difficult to reflect that all four pillars have been seriously damaged, sometimes even overthrown. The Armenian-speaking communities have become a minority in front of the foreign-speaking communities. The Armenian-language press has become a disgrace and is no longer the master of its language, sometimes it has even changed its language. Armenian-language literature is experiencing its sunset. And the Armenian school is failing in its mission, generally failing to produce generations who can read and write Armenian without errors.
Yes, the four wounded pillars from now on will not be able to fully support Western Armenian.
For example, the present Diaspora Armenian press reveals such a vulnerable linguistic state that it makes the press impossible to regard as a pillar it that contributes to the Armenian language. Once upon a time, the press WAS A SCHOOL. Today, it is not. On the contrary, many of our newspapers (I will refrain from mentioning names) simply slaughter the Armenian language with the vulgar and tasteless language they use. The greatest blow to the Western Armenian language comes from here. The recently deceased Dr. Armenak Yeghiayan fought for years, calling out our newspapers to their senses, pointing out their typos, and teaching them the correct spelling. Then, has anything changed in the course of our press?
Now, on the one hand, we are kneeling in the face of the imperfect and unattractive Armenian that the Armenian press has revealed, and on the other hand, we are looking for the Armenian scholars and skilled Armenian linguist editors of the recent past such as: Simon Simonian, Antranig Zarougian, Onnik Sarkisian, Bedros Hadjian, Boghos Snabian, Rev. Andranig Granian, Jirair Tanielian, Yervant Azadian, R. Haddejian.
Without the direct and constant support of those who master the language, Western Armenian will not be able to “cleanse” itself. But, where are those masters?
Question - And what is the current state of Armenian literature, especially Western Armenian literature, in your opinion?
Levon Sharoyan.- I do not have sufficient data at hand to express an opinion on Armenian literature in general, because the contemporary Eastern Armenian literature being developed and published in Armenia is not familiar to me in all its aspects. However, I have no doubt that the native land is the life-giving "rootstock" where all genres of literature necessarily sprout, grow and flourish, in natural and healthy conditions. There is no danger there. The danger is here, abroad.
Exactly 15 years ago, in 2010, I had a polyphonic conversation with 5 beloved Diaspora Armenian intellectuals I knew, and on that occasion, I asked them exactly the same question you asked. My interlocutors were R. Haddejian, Bedros Hadjian, Vrej-Armen, Hagop Cholakian and Vartan Mateosian.
The first, who are no longer with us, sadly emphasized that Western Armenian literature was living out its final days. The other three, apparently avoided pessimistic thoughts and tended to sound more positive at the state of the Western Armenian literature at the present (in those days), and for the future.
I, as an interviewer, supported the opinion of the first two literary scholars. Today I still hold the same view.
Look. In order to develop literature, to produce literary works, a person needs two levers: talent (which is often a natural gift, but can also be acquired through hard work) and Language (with which your thoughts will be transferred to paper). The first lever may exist, but the second lever is fragile, sometimes it does not exist at all. For this reason, in America, Argentina, and Istanbul, we encounter writers with Armenian names who have published books in English, Spanish, or Turkish (novels, short stories, poetry). So, the talent is there, but the Armenian language is not there. We can only use the term “Armenian literature” for Armenian-written literature. A Saroyan or a Peter Balakian is not part of Armenian literature, even if their subject matter relates to Armenians, or Armenian heroes appear throughout their pages. In Aleppo, under the auspices of the Hamazkayin Institute of Armenology, I have been teaching the subject of “Diaspora Armenian Literature” for years, for which I have also prepared the textbook myself. Hamastegh and Vahe-Haig, Nourigian and Hagop Asadourian, Shahnour and Shoushanian, Sarafian and Hrach Zardarian, Moushegh Ishkhan and Zarougian, Jacque Hagopian and Yeghivard, Zahrat and Zareh Khrakhuni, Haddejian, and many others are listed there. There are talent and quality in the works of all of them. All of their works are filled with the warm, and graceful rhythms of Western Armenian.
There are no living people on this list. The last one was R. Haddejian, who said goodbye to life at the age of a hundred, just a few months ago.
Today, if we were to abandon our pessimistic tendencies and try to prepare a collection of living writers of Diaspora Western Armenian literature, what names would we list on our hypothetical list? It is true that in various communities one can still count the names of a handful of distinguished writers, but they all already belong to an older generation that has given its all in the past 40-50 years and tried to keep the torch of literature burning, from East to West. What interests us are their supposed successors, who could take up the traditional banner and continue the race. I do not see those successors.
Let us not rely on such hopes. Here and there, there may be modest writers (young or middle-aged), but they cannot save the future of Western Armenian literature. Those few writers who emigrated from Armenia to America and continue to write in their native dialect, Eastern Armenian, also fall outside this circle. Those works do not contribute to Diaspora Armenian literature, since they do not support Western Armenian, do not keep it alive. They are simply foreign extensions of Diaspora Armenian literature.
Then, it is obvious that today our young writers who attempt “literature” or even “publicity” in Western Armenian often use an alien, distorted, and unsatisfactory Armenian. Their prose is especially lackluster, unattractive, and even repulsive. Is it possible to group under the title of “literatary” works where the language is not beautiful, is full of typos, lacks charm and elegance? Because the language is weak, therefore literature is also weak, has come to its knees. The greatest pain of the Armenian Diaspora is, in fact, the loss of the language, by our own will, as a result of our collective or individual negligence. Starting from this, I have already formed the conviction that Diaspora Armenian literature is experiencing its sunset. It is heading towards its sad end.
Interview by Sona Titizian Getikian
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