Jalaleddin () was the first of the Armenian writer

Raffi Raffi Cavoukian, ( hy, Րաֆֆի, born July 8, 1948), known professionally by the mononym Raffi, is a Canadian singer-lyricist and author of Armenian descent born in Egypt, best known for his children's music. He developed his career as a " ...

's famous works of historical fiction and a milestone in modern Armenian literature. The

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...

was first published in serialized form across eight issues of ''

Mshak ''Mshak'' ( hy, Մշակ meaning ''The Toiler'') was an Armenian language literary and political daily newspaper ( weekly when established) published from 1872–1920 in Tiflis, Russian Empire (now Tbilisi, Georgia). It was founded by Grigor Artsr ...

'', a

Tiflis Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...

-based Armenian newspaper, in 1878 (exactly one year after the events depicted). Its title is based on the name of Sheikh Jalaleddin, a Kurdish chief who led his forces on a violent campaign against Armenian and Assyrian villages in the eastern part of

Van province Van Province ( tr, Van ili, ku, Parezgêha Wanê, Armenian: Վանի մարզ) is a province in the Eastern Anatolian region of Turkey, between Lake Van and the Iranian border. It is 19,069 km2 in area and had a population of 1,035,418 at ...

at the beginning of the last

Russo-Turkish War (1877–78) The Russo-Turkish wars (or Ottoman–Russian wars) were a series of twelve wars fought between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 20th centuries. It was one of the longest series of military conflicts in European histor ...

. While the story is fictional, Raffi based the historical details on eyewitness accounts. Much of the key historical information provided by Raffi corresponds with British correspondents who were in the Eastern Ottoman Empire at the time.

Synopsis

The events of the story take place in the eastern part of the Van Vilayet, in the historical canton of Aghbak near the Ottoman frontier with Persia. The novella tells the story of Sarhat, a young Armenian man who lives the life of a bandit and seeks to rescue his beloved, Asli, from marauding Kurds under the leadership of the eponymous Sheikh Jalaleddin.

Translations

French translation

The first translation of Jalaleddin was completed in French by A. Tchobanian (published as “Djelaleddin”), appearing between 1896 and 1897 in ''Revue des revues'' across five issues.

Russian translation

A Russian translation by N. Bogaturova was published in 1911.

English translations

K. Andreassian (1906). Donald Abcarian (2006). Beyon Miloyan and Kimberley McFarlane (2019).Sophene Armeniaca
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References

Armenian-language novels Armenian novels Novels set in Armenia Novels by Raffi 1878 novels Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) {{Armenia-stub