The Literary Movement
In the 19th century Armenia witnessed an extensive literary movement, the basis of the modern literature of the nation.
During the previous centuries, Armenian national art retained its original simple form.
As Fournol has pointed out, poetry was instrumental for the preservation of national thought amongst the Christian people in the Ottoman Empire, and later became inspiration itself for these minorities. The interplay between musicians, artists and folklorists was very important for national sentiment.
Armenian modern literature emerged during this period, interwining with other art forms and strengthening national feelings.
There is an extensive list of the historians, poets, novelists, prose writes, playwrights, publicists, and political writers, spanning a wide range of subjects 115, hence we only content ourselves to mention the most famous among these.
We have already mentioned the important role that the Mkhitarists played in the Armenian renaissance and the historical significance of writers such as Mikael Tchamtchian and Lucas Injijian. The Mkhitarists also produced one of the greatest Armenian epical poets, Arsène Bagratouni. However, the Mkhitarist Alishan most widely influenced Armenian thought, in his capacity both as a historian and as a poet. Perhaps no other Armenian poet has depicted the glorious past of Armenia and with such excitement, decried its state of decay with such dismay, and talked with such an enthusiasm uprising of the Armenian people. Varandian talks thus of the poet: "As long as there is one single Armenian left in this world, who can understand his poetry, his poems will constantly be praised and appreciated."
The creator of the modern Armenian literature could be said to be Abovian (1804-1848). This great writer studied, as previously mentioned, at the University of Dorpat and was the first Armenian writer to depart from the classical Armenian form of writing and begin writing in everyday language, generating huge publicity for his works.At that time, the Armenians had already been conversing in the new and common Armenian for centuries but their writings were still written in the old, classical style. Therefore it was inevitable that the contemporary publications were restricted to a closed sphere of intellectuals, scientist and priests.
By writing in modern Armenian, Abovian created a new level of literature, accessible to all individuals in society. Macler rightly comments: "And this was in those days when the ideas of liberation emerged in the Near East and East Europe and for these new thoughts there was needed a new language and a new literature." 116
The most famous achievement of Abovian is the epic novel "The Wounds of Armenia" (Verk Hayastani). In this work, the writer paints the daily life of a peasant in the Kanaker Village, in the vicinity of Yerevan (where Abovian's family owned land), and he also describes the pain and the misery of the Armenian people under foreign rule.
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