Historic Panel on Genocide and Literature Held at ‘Modern Language Association Convention’ in Vancouver

VANCOUVER, Canada—The 130th annual Modern Language Association (MLA) Convention—the largest conference of academic humanities in the world, where several thousand conference papers are given each year—was held in Vancouver this year from Jan. 8-11 and featured a prominent panel titled, “The Armenian Genocide in Literature and Memory.”

(L-R) Professor James Najarian, Boston College; Professor Eda Dedabas Dundar, University of Nevada , Reno; Professor Peter Balakian, Colgate University; and Professor Walter Kalaidjian, Emory University

The panel was convened and moderated by James Hiester Najarian, Professor of English at Boston College. The three papers given covered a wide range of literature. Prof. Peter Balakian of Colgate University presented a paper titled, “Yeghishe Charents, ‘Dantesque Legend,’ and the Poetics of Atrocity,” which dealt with the young Armenian poet Charents and his transformative poem about the Turkish atrocities he witnessed on a volunteer mission in 1915.

Prof. Eda Dedebas Dundar of University of Nevada, Reno, presented, “The Islamized Armenians of Turkey and Historical Dialogue and Awareness through Fethiye Cetin’s ‘My Grandmother’ and ‘The Grandchildren.’”

Prof. Walter Kalaidjian’s “The Glare of the Real: Light, Trauma, and Genocidal Memory in the Writings of Peter Balakian,” dealt with the poetics of perception in Balakian ‘s memoir Black Dog of Fate and in his poetry.

The panel and discussion was attended by academics and a large number of Vancouver’s Armenian community.