Verkʻ Hayastani : oghb hayrenasiri ; patmakan vep

• Format: Book
• Language: arm

The publication in 1858 of the novel Verkʻ Hayastani (Wounds of Armenia) by Khachatur Abovyan (1805-48) is considered the beginning of modern Armenian literature. In a significant break with the literary past, Abovyan wrote in the Armenian language as spoken in his time instead of grabar (the classical dialect). Novelists after Abovyan composed their works in modern Eastern and Western Armenian, depicting Armenian life, politics, and culture. Verkʻ Hayastani is a historical novel, set in the period of the Russo-Persian war of 1826-28 and concerned with the sufferings of the Armenian people under Persian occupation. The novel begins with the abduction of an Armenian girl by a Persian gang operating under orders from the Persian sardar, which sets off an Armenian uprising led by the hero of the novel, Agassi. Of peasant stock, Abovyan grew up in the village of Kanaker, near Yerevan. At the age of 18, he entered the service of the Armenian Catholicos, the senior bishop of the Armenian Apostolic Church. From 1830 to 1836 Abovyan studied languages, philosophy, literature, and the sciences at the University of Dorpat (present-day Tartu) in Estonia. In addition to his own writing, Abovyan translated works by great Western poets and writers, including Homer, Goethe, and Schiller, into Armenian. This edition of Abovyan's novel is a testament to the high quality of the graphic arts in Soviet-era publications. World Digital Library.