1869 – 1923
Hovhannes Tumanyan was born on February 19, 1869 in Dsegh, one of the villages of Lori. His father was the local parish priest. Later Tumanyan would write: “The most precious and the best thing that I had in life was my father. He was honest and the most noble man. Extremely altruistic and generous, witty, cheerful, sociable, at the same time he always maintained an air of deep seriousness.” The future writer inherited a priceless legacy from his father.
Since his early years Tumanyan realized how bitter was the life of the Armenian peasant and understood his dreams and burdens. He grew up with the fairy tales, parables and legends of his people. The folklore and beauty of Lori became an integral part of his work and an inseparable part of his spiritual life which he was to later reflect in his writing.
This fruitful bond between the poet and his people persisted until the end of his life, despite the fact that almost his entire life (since 1883) Tumanyan lived far from Lori in city of Tiflis, a political and cultural center in the Transcaucasus.
Tumanyan began his education in Lori, and then attended one of the best Armenian schools of the time, the Nersisyan School from which he, unfortunately, had to leave when his father took ill and died. At age 16, two years before graduation, he ended his formal education and returned to Dsegh to care for his family. At age 19 Tumanyan married and eventually fathered ten children. In need of finances to support his family, he was obliged to do work not fitting to his talents and intellect where the atmosphere stifled him to the point where he later remembered those days as “hell.” In the mid 1890s Tumanyan left that ‘hell’ in order to focus all his time to writing.
Tumanyan was persistent in successfully educating himself through his avid reading. He revered Shakespeare’s works, as well as Byron, Pushkin, and Lermontov’s prose and poetry. He had a keen interest in world folklore, and with the sensitivity of a folklore writer, he retained the integrity of Armenian cultural history, escaping foreign influences in his writing. “I always had a faithful and reliable guide: my intuition,” Tumanyan said.
Tumanyan started writing when he was 10-11 years old, but only became known as a poet in 1890, when his first poetry collection was published. Even in this early book one can clearly see all the freshness that Tumanyan brought to Armenian literature with his poetry.
By the beginning of the 20th century, Tumanyan had rewritten and developed his earlier works and had written new poetry and prose. He emerged as an accomplished artist, who brought a fresh spirit and quality to Armenian literature.
This fresh spirit and quality came from his principal attitude towards poetry rather than external poetic form (where Tumanyan was often quite traditional). He brought poetry closer to the people. This stage of development in Armenian literature justifiably is referred to as the “Tumanyan phase.”
Tumanyan’s inspiration came from everyday ordinary activities of the people. The heroes of his works are simple villagers. He reveals such qualities as indestructible strength of thought, beauty and richness of feelings, wisdom and depth. Life was harsh for villagers who endured unwritten patriarchal laws and prejudice and the reign of unjust oppression. Facing these difficulties, Tumanyan’s heroes often die a tragic death. While depicting these sad realities, Tumanyan, at the same time, discovers and exposes true poetry, purity of feelings, integrity, and inextinguishable determination towards justice among his heroes. The images created by Tumanyan move the reader even today with their truthful reality, but especially move the reader delicately to profound compassion for truth and beauty in the human experience.
Among the works that portray the times in which Tumanyan lived, are his poem, “Anush” and the story “Gikor.” These are celebrated works for the contemporary reader. “Anush” is often called the pinnacle of Tumanyan’s poetry, and “Gikor,” –of his prose.
“Anush” tells about the tragic love of a young shepherd boy (Saro) for a girl (Anush). The poem portrays the spiritual richness of heroes, their inner feelings, their endless devotion to one another, and their youthful selflessness and readiness to self-sacrifice. Tumanyan, at the same time, while giving a spiritual picture, gives a broad picture of the cultural life of the people, depicting daily activities and customs, their joys and sorrows, and their vision of the world. In essence, he unveils the national character of the Armenian people. It is no wonder that V. Bryusov remarked that to the non-Armenian reader the acquaintance with Tumanyan’s poetry (for example his “Anush”) renders more knowledge about Armenia and the life of her people, than tomes of special reference texts. “Gikor” is the tale of a 12-year-old peasant boy who goes to the city and succumbs to the cruelty of those that surround him there. The entire story is extremely dramatic, abounding in lyrical quality with simultaneous touches of happiness and sadness.
Before Tumanyan there was no one who could extract poetry from things seemingly not poetic and banal as he could. No one came forth with his kind of skill and talent to expose complex human characters in their entire tragedy and beauty.
IN THE COTTAGE.
THE little children wept and wailed;
Heart-rending were the tears they shed.
“Mamma, mamma, we want our food!
Get up, mamma, and give us bread!”
With bitter sorrow in her heart
Groaned the sick mother from her bed:
“We have no bread, my little ones;
Papa has gone to get you bread.”
“No, you are cheating, bad mamma!
You are deceiving us! You said
That when the sunlight struck the banks
Papa would come and bring us bread.
“The sun has come, the sun has gone;
Still are we hungry, still unfed.
Mamma, mamma, we want our food!
Get up, mamma, and give us bread!”
“No bread your father yet has found;
Without it he dares not come back.
Wait but a little while, my dears!
Now I will follow in his track.
“In heaven there is a great Papa;
Abundant store of bread has he.
He loves you much, so very much,
He will not let you hungry be.
“There will I go and say to him
That you are faint with hunger sore.
Plenty of bread I’ll ask for you,
That you may eat, and weep no more.”
So spake the mother, and she clasped
The starving children to her breast.
On her pale lips the last kiss froze
That to their faces thin she pressed.
The mother’s arms unclosed no more—
She shut her eyes and went away
Bread to her little ones to send—
And lifeless in their sight she lay.
The little children wept and wailed;
Heart-rending were the tears they shed.
“Mamma, mamma, we want our food;
Get up, mamma, and give us bread!”
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