Russell to Explore Symbolism of Bells: ‘From Poe to Sardarabad’

WATERTOWN, Mass.—On Dec. 15, Dr. James Russell, Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies at Harvard University, will present a program on “The Bells: From Poe to Sardarabad” at the Armenian Library and Museum of America (ALMA) in Watertown.

“Church bells are deeply symbolic, and of all musical instruments may come closest to language,” Russell explains. “Edgar Allan Poe’s great final poem ‘The Bells’ is language that comes closest to music, and the Russian poet Konstantin Balmont, coming to Poe through the French poet Charles Baudelaire, produced the translation Serge Rakhmaninov used in his symphony ‘The Bells.’”

Russell goes on to note that the Armenian poet Rupen Sevag, in Lausanne, wrote the poem “Bells, Bells!” in reaction to the 1909 Adana massacre; and it echoes in the hidden, unpublished poems of Yeghishe Charents, who was fascinated by Poe. The latter inspired the American protest singer Phil Ochs as well.

Finally Baruyr Sevak, taking the nom de plume of the earlier poet as his own, rings the bells again in his epic poem “Anlreli zangakatun” (“The Unsilenced Bell Tower”) and hymn “Sardarabad,” changing the tone of their chiming from the clangor of disaster to the ringing of survival, defiance, and victory.

“We take a philological journey across the Armenian and world cultures and history of two centuries, guided by men whose lives ended uniformly in tragedy, but whose creative work has conquered death,” Russell explains.

Russell has been the Mesrob Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies at Harvard University since 1992. He is the author of several books, and his most recent articles include an analysis of the Armenian fragment in the Cairo Geniza and studies of several Armenian magical manuscripts. He is at present writing a study of Armenian secret languages, based on a manuscript at the Oriental Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg.

Aside from his academic work, Russell is spearheading the preparation of an exhibit at Harvard next spring commemorating the 500^th anniversary of the first Armenian printed book, in Venice in 1512. Publications from the extensive Armenian collections at the Harvard libraries will be on display, as well as loaned items from local Armenian organizations including the Armenian Cultural Foundation, ALMA, and the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research. Also participating are area universities with Armenian studies programs.

Russell’s lecture, which is open to the public free of charge, begins at 7:30 p.m., and will be followed by a reception and refreshments.

For more information, contact ALMA by calling (617) 926-2562 or e-mailing info@almainc.org.