Daniel Varoujan ( hy, Դանիէլ Վարուժան, 20 April 188426 August 1915) was an
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
poet of the early 20th century. At the age of 31, when he was reaching international stature, he was
deported
Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...
and murdered by the
Young Turk government, as part of the officially planned and executed
Armenian genocide
The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was ...
.
Life and education
![Araksi and Daniel](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Araksi_and_Daniel.jpg)
Varoujan was born Daniel Tchboukkiarian (Դանիէլ Չպուքքեարեան)
in the village of Prknig (now called Çayboyu
[Maggie Blank, "Pirkinik, Perkinik, Perkenik, Perknig, Perknik, Prknik]
/ref>) near the town of Sivas
Sivas (Latin and Greek: ''Sebastia'', ''Sebastea'', Σεβάστεια, Σεβαστή, ) is a city in central Turkey and the seat of Sivas Province.
The city, which lies at an elevation of in the broad valley of the Kızılırmak river, is a ...
in Turkey. After attending the local school, he was sent in 1896, the year of the Hamidian massacres
The Hamidian massacres also called the Armenian massacres, were massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in the mid-1890s. Estimated casualties ranged from 100,000 to 300,000, Akçam, Taner (2006) '' A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide an ...
, to Istanbul, where he attended the Mkhitarian school. He then continued his education at the Mourad-Rafaelian school of Venice, and in 1905 entered Ghent University
Ghent University ( nl, Universiteit Gent, abbreviated as UGent) is a public research university located in Ghent, Belgium.
Established before the state of Belgium itself, the university was founded by the Dutch King William I in 1817, when the ...
in Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
, where he followed courses in literature, sociology and economics. In 1909 he returned to his village where he taught for three years. After his marriage with Araksi Varoujan in 1912, he became the principal of St. Gregory The Illuminator School in Constantinople.
Mehean literary group
In 1914, he established the ''Mehean'' literary group and magazine with Gostan Zarian
Gostan, Constant, or Kostan Zarian ( hy, Կոստան Զարեան; February 2, 1885 – December 11, 1969) was an Armenian writer who produced short lyric poems, long narrative poems of an epic cast, manifestos, essays, travel impressions, criti ...
, Hagop Oshagan
Hagop Oshagan ( hy, Յակոբ Օշական; December 9, 1883 in Soloz, Bursa – February 17, 1948 in Aleppo), was an Armenian writer, playwright, and novelist. Among his many novels are the trilogy ''To One Hundred and One Years'' (Հարիւ ...
, Aharon Dadourian
Aharon אַהֲרֹן is masculine given name alternate spelling, commonly in Israel, of '' Aaron'', prominent biblical figure in the Old Testament, "Of the Mountains", or "Mountaineer". There are other variants including "Ahron" and "Aron". Aha ...
and Kegham Parseghian
Kegham Parseghian (Գեղամ Բարսեղեան) (1883 – 1915), was an Armenian writer, teacher, editor, and journalist.
Biography
Kegham Parseghian was born in the Gedik Paşa district of Constantinople. He attended the local Mesrobian ...
. The movement aimed to start an Armenian literary and artistic renaissance. Participants saw as their purpose creating a "center", a temple of Art which, according to their manifesto, would attract a fragmented and spiritually scattered nation in order to promote its artistic creativity. Heavily influenced by Nietzschean ideas, they struggled, however, to reconcile two opposing directions in their understanding of ends and means, that is, between art as means to find a "center" for the nation, or centering the nation as a means to achieving meaningful and universal artistic creation, the latter being Varoujan's position.
The fundamental ideology of ''Mehean'' was expressed in the following excerpt of their manifesto on the importance of recreating a genuinely autochthonous creative "spirit" in Armenian literature:
We announce the worship and the expression of the Armenian spirit, because the Armenian spirit is alive, but appears only occasionally. We say: Without the Armenian spirit there is no Armenian literature and no Armenian artist. Every true artist expresses only his own race's spirit...
Death
According to Grigoris Balakian
Grigoris Balakian ( hy, Գրիգորիս Պալագեան) 1875 – 8 October 1934), was a bishop of the Armenian Apostolic Church, in addition to being a survivor and memoirist of the Armenian genocide.
Life
Grigoris Balakian was born in Toka ...
, who saw the victims in Chankiri on the day of their departure and later talked with their Turkish carriage drivers, Varoujan and four other detainees were being transferred from Chankiri to Ankara when their carriage was intercepted at a place called Tiuna. At that location, beside a stream, they were murdered by four Kurds headed by a local criminal named Halo acting under the instructions of members of the Ittihadist committee in Chankiri. The senior of the two escorting policemen was aware of the committee's plan and allowed them to be taken off the carriage. After the murders, the Kurds divided the clothing and possessions of the victims among themselves and the policemen.
The Armenian writer and doctor Roupen Sevag and three other eyewitnesses described the torture and death of Varoujan. After being arrested and jailed, they were told that they were being taken to a village. On the way, a Turkish official and his assistant, accompanied by five heavily armed "policemen", stopped the convoy. After robbing the five prisoners, the first two who were in charge left and ordered the other five to take them away. After taking them to the woods, they attacked the prisoners, took off their clothes until all of them were left naked. Then they tied them one by one to the trees and started cutting them slowly with knives. Their screams could be heard by witnesses in hiding from a long distance.
One of Varoujan's major works was ''The Song of the Bread'' (Հացին երգը) a fifty-page collection of poems. Confiscated during the genocide, it was an unfinished manuscript at the time of his death. Reportedly saved by bribing Turkish officials.
''The Song of the Bread'' was published posthumously in 1921. The poems celebrate the simple majesty of village agricultural life led by Armenian peasant farmers.
More than anyone else of their time, Siamanto
Atom Yarchanian ( hy, Ատոմ Եարճանեան), better known by his pen name Siamanto (Սիամանթօ) (15 August 1878 – August 1915), was an influential Armenian writer, poet and national figure from the late 19th century and early 20th ...
and Varoujan verbalized the hopes of the Armenians around the start of the 20th century. Using legends, old epics, and pagan history as the springboard and allegory for their aspirations, they waited for deliverance from oppression and the rebirth in Armenian arts.
In popular culture
Films
Varoujan's last months, starting from his arrest to death, were portrayed in an award-winning short arthouse film ''Taniel
Taniel (Armenian: "Դանիէլ") is a multi award winning arthouse short film by British writer and director Garo Berberian, telling the story of the last months of poet Taniel Varoujan until his murder during the Armenian genocide at the age of ...
'' by British director Garo Berberian
Garo may refer to:
People and languages
* Garo people, a tribal people in India
** Garo language, the language spoken by the Garo tribe
Places
* Kingdom of Garo, a former kingdom in southern Ethiopia
* Garo, Colorado
* Garo Hills, part of the Ga ...
, narrated by Sean Bean
Sean Bean (born Shaun Mark Bean on 17 April 1959) is an English actor. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Bean made his professional debut in a theatre production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' in 1983. Retaining his Yorkshire ac ...
.
Bibliography
Varoujan produced four major volumes of poetry:
*''Shivers'' (Սարսուռներ, 1906, Venice)
*''The Heart of the Race'' (Ցեղին սիրտը, 1909, Constantinople)
*''Pagan Songs'' (Հեթանոս երգեր, 1912, Constantinople)
*''The Song of the Bread'' (Հացին երգը, 1921, Constantinople).
Other editions:
*Varoujan, Daniel. Le chant du pain (Marseilles: Editions Parentheses, 1990).
*Varujan, Daniel. Il canto del pane (Milan: Edizioni Angelo Guerini e Associati, 1992).
*Varuzhan, Daniel. Արծիւներու կարավանը (Erevan: "Hayastan" Hratarakchutyun, 1969).
*Բանաստեղծական երկեր (Antelias: Tp. Kilikioy Katoghikosutean, 1986).
*Բանաստեղծություններ (Erevan: Haypethrat, 1955).
*Ձօն (Erevan: Hayastan Hratarakchutyun, 1975).
*Երկեր (Erevan: "Hayastan," 1969).
*Երկեր (Jerusalem: "Haralez Hratarakchutiwn," 1973).
*Երկեր (Erevan: "Sovetakan Grogh" Hratarakchutyun, 1984).
*Երկերի լիակատար ժողովածու երեք հատորով (Erevan: Haykakan SSH GA Hratarakchutyun, 1986, 1987).
*Հարճը (Erevan: Haypethrat, 1946).
*Հարճը (Beirut: Tparan Etvan, 1952).
*Հարճը (Erevan: "Sovetakan Grogh" Hratarakchutyun, 1977).
*Հատընտիր (Istanbul: Grakan Akumb-Zhamanak Gortsaktsutiwn, 1994).
*Հատընտիրներ (Istanbul: Zhamanak, 1994).
*Հացին երգը (Jerusalem: Tparan Srbots Hakobeants, 1950).
*Հացին երգը (Erevan: Haypethrat, 1964).
*Հացին երգը (Constantinople: O. Arzuman, 1921).
*Հեթանոս երգեր (Ghalatia onstantinople Tpagrutiwn "Shant," 1912).
*Հեթանոս երգեր (Jerusalem: Tparan Srbots Hakobeants, 1953).
*Հեթանոս երգեր. Հացին երգը. հատուածներ (Venice-S. Ghazar: Mkhitarean hratarakutiwn, 1981).
*Նամականի (Erevan: Haypethrat, 1965).
*Poemes Varoujean (Beirut: Impr. Hamaskaine, 1972).
*Սարսուռներ ( erusalem:Srbots Hakobeants, 1950).
*Սարսուռներ. Ցեղին սիրտը. հատուածներ (Venice-S. Ghazar: Mkhitarean hratarakutiwn, 1981).
*Stikhi (Moscow: Khudozhestvennaia lit-ra, 1984).
*Stikhi (Erevan: Izd-vo "Sovetakan Grogh," 1985).
*Ցեղին սիրտը (Constantinople: Hratarakutiwn Artsiw Zogh. Gravacharanotsi, 1909).
*Ցեղին սիրտը (Jerusalem: Tparan Srbots Hakobeants, 1953).
*Varoujean: poems (Beirut: Impr. Hamaskaine, n.d.).
About Varoujan:
*Esajanian, Levon. Դանիէլ Վարուժան (կեանքը եւ գործը) (Constantinople: Berberian, 1919).
See also
*Armenian literature
Armenian literature begins around AD 400 with the invention of the Armenian alphabet by Mesrop Mashtots.
History
Early literature
Only a handful of fragments have survived from the most ancient Armenian literary tradition preceding the Christia ...
*Armenian notables deported from the Ottoman capital in 1915
The deportation of Armenian intellectuals is conventionally held to mark the beginning of the Armenian genocide. Leaders of the Armenian community in the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman capital of Ottoman Constantinople, Constantinople (now Istanbul), ...
References
External links
ArmenianHouse.org biography of Daniel Varujan
NetArmenie page on Daniel Varujan (French)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Varoujan, Daniel
Armenian male poets
People who died in the Armenian genocide
Armenians from the Ottoman Empire
1915 deaths
1884 births
19th-century Armenian poets
20th-century Armenian poets
San Lazzaro degli Armeni alumni
19th-century male writers
20th-century male writers