Happy Birthday Ara Baliozian!

[Armenian]

Re: Happy Birthday Ara Baliozian!

I must therefore conclude that, if they continue to read me, I must have a special gift, a gift that all writers dream to have, namely, that of being irresistible. Which amounts to saying I am on my way to achieving immortality.#

Well, I am afraid I have to agree with you here, Ara.

Long after you are gone. Every time I take a dump in the toilet, I'll think of your "notes / comments"

As a matter of fact, even now, your works have a 'laxative' effect on me

Wait... Wait...


Oops!


Gotta run...

[arabaliozian]

Re: Happy Birthday Ara Baliozian!

BOOK REVIEW
***************************
CORRESPONDENCE. Volume 2. LETTERS TO GOURGEN MAHARI AND ANTRANIK ANTREASSIAN. By Shahan Shahnour. Collected, edited, and annotated by Krikor Keusseyan. 227 pages. Boston: Mayreni Publishing (50 Watertown St., Watertown, MA 01472). 2005.
******************************************
In his preface, Krikor Keusseyan writes: "The CORRESPONDENCE is a mosaic of opinions and judgments on art, literature and politics." What makes these opinions eminently readable is their objectivity. Obviously, they were not meant for publication. If they have been published it's because of Krikor Keusseyan's steadfast admiration of Shahan Shahnour. But let the author speak for himself.
*
On Siamanto: "A plagiarist who translated Maeterlinck's verse word by word and passed it on the unsuspecting reader as his own. No one is aware of this, and it was by pure chance that I stumbled on it."
*
On Simon Simonian: "There is about him the odor of the shopkeeper."
*
On Arshak Chobanian: "He is an untrustworthy, self-centered careerist."
*
On Hagop Oshagan: "He is incapable of writing an accessible, clear sentence."
*
On his fellow Armenians: "I will not comment on my adversaries. As for my so-called friends: if you only knew the acts of stupidity, cowardice, and duplicity that I have witnessed."
*
On Gostan Zarian: "He describes nature well. The problem is, the principal subject of literature is not nature but man."
I disagree with Shahnour here. Zarian's portrait of Charents in his BANCOOP AND THE BONES OF THE MAMMOTH has Dostoevskian penetration. There are, moreover, unforgettable portraits and sketches in all his works - Martiros Saryan in THE TRAVELLER AND HIS ROAD, Zabel Yessayan in the WEST, Lawrence Durrell in THE ISLAND AND A MAN are three that come readily to mind.
*
Shahnour was born in Istanbul but spent most of his life in French hospitals, sanatoria, and retirement homes. In a letter to Mahari he has this to say about his fellow French-Armenians: "They are all well off now, but they can no longer be said to be Armenians. Which is why all that talk of repatriation in the Yerevan press strikes me as so much empty verbiage."
*
At one point in his career, Shahnour adopted the pseudonym Armen Lubin and published several critically acclaimed volumes of prose and verse in French. In another letter to Mahari he writes: "I have heard it said that I write in French to make a little money. What nonsense! Writing poetry has at no time been a source of income to anyone, be it in France or anywhere else for that matter."
*
About himself: "I have committed many thoughtless acts in my life, or so they tell me, but no one can testify that these acts have been to the detriment of the nation, only to myself and my reputation, both of which are of no consequence to anyone else but me."
*
On our dime-a-dozen pundits: "Shopkeepers drop in on me out of nowhere and take it upon themselves to deliver lectures. What do they know about conditions of life in France? What do they know about literature? To learn and to know are two different things. They have learned some things but they lack intuitive knowledge. What am I supposed to do with them? Tell them to shut up? But that's against my temperament."
#

BOOK REVIEW
*************************
LA VIE COMME ELLE EST (Life as it is): Short stories. By Krikor Zohrab. Translated into French by Mireille Besnilian. 110 pages. Marseilles. Editions Parentheses. 2005.
************************************************** *********
A highly respected lawyer, politician, editor, and author, Krikor Zohrab (1861-1915) is remembered today as one of our ablest short story writers. Writes Hagop Oshagan: "Zohrab is one of those rare individuals who do the work and live the lives of eight or ten men and excel in each. He is the most brilliant, accomplished and enduring figure in the Realistic movement of our literature."
According to Mesrob Janashian: "Zohrab viewed conservatives as hidebound obscurantists. He attacked the Armenian establishment of Constantinople - the Church as well as the bosses. He constantly urged the youth to adopt progressive Western ideas. Even when he went to extremes, he at no time passed the bounds of reason and common sense."
In American terms he might best be imagined as a hybrid of President Kennedy (Zohrab was likewise assassinated at the height of his powers), and Hemingway - though as a short story writer he is more like Guy de Maupassant in his subtle depiction of feminine psychology, and Anton Chekhov in his sympathetic treatment of the lower classes.
The collection under review contains some of his most widely admired stories. Their translation is so elegantly executed that they read as though they were originally conceived and written in French.
*
The recent study of Armenian women writers by the Canadian academic Victoria Rowe, and now this translation by Mireille (not an Armenian) Besnilian, may suggest that odars are more interested in our literature than our academics and pundits from the Middle East, most of whom happen to be fluent in half-a-dozen languages (or so they tell us), who are, it seems, too busy with far more important projects to have any time left for translating our writers, a great deal of whose works remain terra incognita not only to odars but also to the overwhelming majority of Armenians in the Diaspora who cannot read Armenian.
#

QUOTATIONS FROM
SHAHAN SHAHNOUR'S
CORRESPONDENCE, VOLUME II.
Collected, edited, and annotated by Krikor Keusseyan.
**************************************************
On Vazken Shoushanian:
"I have read only one book by him, an epistolary novel, which is a definite failure because it happens to be a youthful work. Has he written anything better? I asked this question to an associate of his, Nartuni, who answered: "He is a worthless man. He will write nothing of any value."
I don't accept this verdict at face value because these two Tashnaks can't stand each other."
*
On Antranik Zaroukian:
"When he was young, he was a fanatic Tashnak. And more. He confused swearing with reasoning. He is wrong if he thinks I hold a grudge against him. No, never! Even if he had remained an obstinate partisan I could not have harbored vengeful thoughts in his direction, only pity and scorn."
*
About the shenanigans of the Jerusalem Monastery:
"Among other thing, Nartuni told me all about the wheeling-and-dealing in Jerusalem and the scandalous conduct of our Holy Fathers there - their alcoholism, contrabandism, womanizing, gambling, thievery…He knows them well having spent some time in their company. He tells me these high-ranking ecclesiastics are themselves former orphans [survivors of the massacres] gathered from the desert. Alas!"
*
On our press:
"In order for our press to play a useful role in our social and political life, there must be such things as public opinion and collective memory, in whose absence blunders will be forgotten and incompetent leaders glorified."
*
On the literary scene in the Diaspora:
"Our literary market place is now in the hands of senior citizens - Vratsian, Chobanian, Oshagan - individuals who don't have to work for a living and they have all the time in the world to write and write…Let them write so long as they don't give us a headache with their endless arguments and senile problems."
*
In my recent review of this book I neglected to mention that half of it consists of endnotes, that can be read as a brief introduction to 20th-century Armenian history and culture. In addition to being a dedicated fan of Shahnour, Krikor Keusseyan is a meticulous scholar whose comments are as informative as Shahnour's observations and insights.
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: Happy Birthday Ara Baliozian!

LES ÉCOLES DE CRITIQUES ARMÉNIENS
************************************************** ****


Les critiques arméniens sont de toutes les tailles et de toutes les formes. Voici une tentative de classification.


Le partisan : Chaque mot qu'il prononce est le résultat d'un conditionnement.

Le voyou : Il lance sa boue par jour venteux et il est trop con pour savoir que cette boue lui reviendra comme un boomerang.


Le donneur de leçon : Un âne bâté dont l'unique ambition dans la vie est d'apparaître comme quelqu'un qui est au courant de tout plutôt que quelqu'un qui cherche à savoir et comprendre.


Le fanatique : Son cerveau est si étroit qu'il est incapable de recevoir plus d'une idée à la fois, et cette idée est soit un préjudice, soit une erreur.


La bouche ordurière : Imaginez un sconse soufflant sa mauvaise haleine et veut se dresser contre vous, au plus près de votre personne pour vous blesser.


Le pontife : Il ne peut ni se tromper ni faire d'erreur, car mieux que quiconque, il sait. Et s'il sait mieux que quiconque, c'est parce qu'il est le meilleur. Et s'il est le meilleur, c'est parce qu'il est en contact permanent avec le Saint Esprit
Le stalinien : C'est un commissaire de la culture frustré qui vous loge une balle dans la tête et appelle ça de la dialectique.


L'esprit dogmatique : Il croit que chaque vanité qu'il prononce est l'alpha et l'omega de pensée humaine, depuis les Grecs de l'antiquité jusqu'à aujourd'hui.


Le converti : Il a fait du patriotisme une religion et croit que la foi peut déplacer des montagnes, bien que jusqu'ici il n'ait fait rien d'autre que de déplacer le fumier dans son arrière-cour.


Le charlatan : Il réutilise une ligne de l'éditorial du matin dans l'espoir qu'on le prenne pour un pandit.


L'hypocrite ou l'homme au double langage: Il pense qu'aussi longtemps qu'il dira des choses contraires à ce qu'il pense ou qu'il sent, il sera sur la terre ferme.


Le fondamentaliste : Il confond son verbiage merdique avec les saintes écritures.


Question : Est-ce une perte de temps que de lire ces critiques ?
Réponse : Non, si vous voulez comprendre pourquoi notre passé et notre présent sont un désastre et pourquoi la lumière au fond du tunnel est un train qui approche avec une cargaison toxique.


À ceux qui me disent, " Si vous voulez que vos lecteurs vous respectent, vous devriez les respecter ", je réponds que je ne suis pas fait pour respecter l'irrationnel, l'irresponsabilité, le charlatanisme, l'esprit prétentieux et la malhonnêteté. Mais c'est mon rôle de les montrer.


Et si vous deviez me dire : " Comment se fait-il que vous soyez le seul auteur à avoir une vue si négative et si pessimiste de notre réalité ? " je répondrai : Non, je ne le suis pas, non sans avoir longuement hésité. Trois générations d'auteurs arméniens avant moi ont été brutalement terrassés avant qu'ils aient eu la moindre chance de déclencher l'alarme : la première fois, par Talaat dans l'empire ottoman, la seconde fois par Staline en Arménie soviétique, et la troisième fois dans la Diaspora par nos partisans. De sorte que j'ai entendu même nos chauvins admettre que nous n'avions plus de géants en littérature, seulement de méprisables minus.


Mais pour être honnête envers nos auteurs perdus, bon nombre d'entre eux avaient prévu l'imminence de la catastrophe et ignorés de tous, s'ils n'avaient déjà été assassinés. Les noms de Shahnour et Massikian me viennent à l'esprit ; et aussi Zarian, qui indiqua : " Nos partis politiques ont été sans utilité politique pour nous. Leur plus grand ennemi, c'est le discours libre " ; et "les Arméniens ne survivent qu'en se cannibalisant mutuellement. " Il faut noter aussi Zarian qui termina un chapitre dans son livre LE VOYAGEUR ET SA ROUTE, écrit dans les années 30, par ces mots, "Vdank, vdank, vdank!" (danger, danger, danger !) Si ce n'est pas un S.O.S., je voudrais savoir ce que c'est.

[crusader1492]

Re: Happy Birthday Ara Baliozian!

... I am on my way to achieving immortality.
#

In your dreams.

[arabaliozian]

Re: Happy Birthday Ara Baliozian!

Saturday, February 09, 2008
**********************************************
A WRITER AND HIS READERS
************************************************** ***
If I understand some of my readers correctly, the function of a writer is to know and understand his readers in order that he may better pander to their needs. If his readers are prejudiced, he should legitimize their prejudices. If his readers hate Turks, he should say they love everybody, they only want justice. A writer who fails to cover up or justify his readers’ failings and limitations ceases being a writer and becomes – in the words of these readers -- a fool and an s.o.b.
I am flattered. I am read by readers so smart that compared to them I am a fool. I must therefore conclude that, if they continue to read me, I must have a special gift, a gift that all writers dream to have, namely, that of being irresistible. Which amounts to saying I am on my way to achieving immortality.
#

[freakyfreaky]

Re: Happy Birthday Ara Baliozian!

Don't you know Ara, you are Armenian before you are human.

[arabaliozian]

Re: Happy Birthday Ara Baliozian!

Friday, February 08, 2008
*********************************************
ON ARMENIAN ANTI-ARMENIANISM
************************************************** *
Krikor Zohrab (1861-1915): “Oppression corrupts everything it touches, even the highest moral virtues.”
*
Derenik Demirjian (1877-1956): “Every Armenian has another Armenian whom he considers his mortal enemy.”
*
Lucretius (98-55 B.C.): “Differences among men, which reason is unable to expel, are so exceedingly slight that there is nothing to hinder us from living a life worthy of gods.”
*
The anti-Armenian Armenian is as real as the anti-Semitic xxx; but whereas the anti-Semitic xxx is an exception, an anomaly, and an aberration, the anti-Armenian Armenian is the rule.
The anti-Armenian Armenian is against any Armenian who does not subscribe to his definition of Armenianism – a definition that is as authoritarian, inflexible, dogmatic, and narrow as himself. In his view, abstractions like tolerance, free speech, fundamental human rights, dialogue, compromise, consensus, and solidarity are degenerate Western concepts whose sole intent is the destruction of the nation; and when he speaks of the nation or nationalism, what he really means is his tribe and tribalism. Fully aware of this collective complex, our leaders have done their utmost to exploit it to their advantage and in defense of their tribal powers and privileges.
Left to their own devices, people do not divide themselves. Divisions are introduced and legitimized by leaders for the simple reason that the average Armenian has no interest in subtle ideological and theological theories. He is too busy trying to survive in an alien, and sometimes even hostile and despotic environment to waste any time on metaphysics.
The Turks have a law (article 301) that says it is a crime to insult Turkishness. We don’t have such a law not because we are more civilized or progressive but because every Armenian is a prosecutor with his own article 301, and if anyone dares to violate it, he runs the risk of being buried beneath an avalanche of verbal abuse. I speak from experience.
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: Happy Birthday Ara Baliozian!

Thursday, February 07, 2008
*********************************************
THE UNMENTIONABLE IN PURSUIT
OF THE UNEATABLE
************************************************** *
If I am to believe my critics, I am a self-hating narcissist. To which I can only say, “No comment.”
*
One can master the demanding discipline of suffering fools gladly only with the help of the Good Lord. Which is why this particular discipline is less accessible to agnostics and atheists.
*
We all labor under the inflexible law of demand and supply, and the demand these days is for flattering and chauvinist crapola. That’s why everybody speaks about Turkish criminal conduct and no one even dares to mention our “brainless” and “useless” leadership. And because I stress that aspect of our history and status quo, I have become persona non grata and I am called a self-hating s.o.b. with illusions of grandeur, one of which is that I think of myself as a writer. If I am not a writer, why bother reading me in a world that is abundant in unread masters, including our own? Instead of reading our great writers, they read massacre books, which reinforce their image of themselves as perennial victims, after which they wallow in self-pity.
*
Two of the dangers of Turcocentrism is (one) allowing ourselves to be defined by our enemies, and (two) offering them a rent-free permanent residence in our psyche -- which also means allowing them to carry on re-creating us in their own image. Hence the ubiquitous presence of anonymous borodakhos and anpardavan srigas in our internet discussion forums whose idea of criticism is slinging mud hoping some of it will stick, and when none of it even hits the intended target, they keep slinging hoping they will have better luck next time – just like our revolutionaries, who, after repeated massacres, refused to reconsider their tactics, in the same way that now they refuse to acknowledge any responsibility. Learning from our blunders? No time for that. We are too busy trying to educate our enemies who have made it abundantly clear they do not intent to be educated by their former slaves.
#

[Lucin]

Re: Happy Birthday Ara Baliozian!

Atleast, unlike some of his detractors here, Mr. Sassounian had the respect and common sense to recognize Mr. Baliozian as an Armenian literary figure.

At each step his detractors here prove his point without even putting Ara's proverbial feet to the fire.

For Christ's sake, just look at Ara's responses to Harut Sassounian; very childish, turkish, datark and ankap, at best. And to be honest, had he been anonymous, I would have suspected him to be a Turk; he has that typical enlightened Turkish rhetoric. This is just one of the Turkish sites, he is posting his nonsense.

freaky, I suggest you use that good brain of yours and see his true intentions and lack of honesty in his criticism. You can keep some intellectual integrity by remaining silent just like some seem to be doing, rather than defending a dishonest critic, for no good reason ( other than opposing some people here), and putting words into his mouth.

[HayotzAmrotz]

Re: Happy Birthday Ara Baliozian!

Եղբայր, դատարկ գլխով, պիղծ բնութագրով, փողոցային լակոտի հետ ես փորձում խոսել: Խոզերի առաչ մարգարիտներ չեն թափում: Անիմաստ է: Իզուր է:

My dear brother,

Every Armenian, whether a street thug or a university student, should be spoken to because assimilation hits every Armenian regardless of their social status and intellectual abilities and assimilation is our number 1 enemy in Diaspora, which, as you correctly said on many occasions, is definitely doomed and I agree with that, but despite that fact our battle against assimilation is far from over. We should try our best to minimize the damage and speak to every Armenian out there. Brushing them off and prematurely declaring them “dead” is not the right way IMHO. The above doesn’t apply to Ara whatsoever because to me he is lost for good due to his pseudo intellectual stance, his misguided ego and above all due to his hate for my homeland, my beloved Hayastan, so quite frankly - fuk Ara big time, full stop!

When Nzhdeh founded Tseghakron Ukht in US (now known as AYF for those who didn’t know) he spoke to every young Armenian he met, his teachings are inclusive, not exclusive. So, we should not be too judgmental of our youth and we should give them the benefit of doubt, and an opportunity or three, because our youth is our future.

I’ve met a lot of Diaspora youngsters, from members of AP to students of UCLA and none of them were assimilated to such a terrible degree that recovery was absolutely impossible, but they will be lost for good, forever, if we don’t speak to them or if we give up on them too soon. Yes, it’s a hard work but being Nzhdehakan was never meant to be easy.