Translated by Jennifer Manoukian
The following passages are taken from Antranig Dzarougian’s 1980 memoir, Ethereal Aleppo (Երազային Հալէպը). One of the foremost writers and editors in the Armenian Diaspora, Dzarougian lived and worked in the Armenian communities of Syria and Lebanon. Born in 1913 in the Ottoman town of Gurin (modern Gürün), Dzarougian was rescued during the massacres and brought to Aleppo, where he was raised in an Armenian orphanage. He is best known for a
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It is refreshing to see a young and upcoming Armenian college student to have such a keen interest in Armenian literature to make it a career choice. I equally enjoyed reading the passages she translated. I hope that she translates some of his works, particularly his novel titled’ “love During the Calamity” by the Centennial of Armenian Genocide. I see that she footnoted the passages to give a brief introduction of the character. That novel will enliven the Armenian literary characters for the reader and will introduce the brightest of the just pre-Genocide Armenian literary giants interacting as they would have in Dzarougian’s superb literary imagination. The only objection I have to this translation is her choice of the word Ethereal. We have an Armenian word for it -եթերային . Dreamy is the best translation i could think of while admitting that translation is an exceedingly difficult art to remain true to the author in search of the right words and expressions that, even then, may not do do justice to the author’s intent as we perceive it when reading in the language he wrote. Well Jennifer. I enjoyed reading it.
I was intrigued to see the choice of “ethereal” for երազային, but then I found that the first meaning of the word “dreamy” in the American Heritage Dictionary is “resembling a dream; ethereal or vague.” Therefore, I believe that Jennifer, as a translator with some published work, must have had her valid reasons to use “ethereal,” a more literary term, instead of the literal “dreamy.”
I was also intrigued to see your translation “Love During the Calamity” for the title of Dzarukian’s novel, “Սէրը Եղեռնի մէջ» (Sere Yegherni mech). As the author of an ongoing series on the meaning of the word “yeghern” in this same newspaper, where I have just argued that the translation “calamity” is utterly inaccurate (see the article “When Dictionaries Are Left Unopened…”), I’d appreciate if you indicated what dictionary has provided you with that translation. Thank you in advance.
I do appreciate all good literary works by Armenian writers,including Antranik Dzarukian´s. However, I beg to differ with the very untimely mentality of some ,rather most Arab Armenians,Bolsahaye Armenians and for that matter Barsgahay Armenians.latter lest nostalgious of Teheran.Like self who passed the first one third or less of my life in that country.Wonderfull Armenian environment , very good relations with Persians and yes even aterpatakan Turks.
But when the 50th Anmniversary of the Armenian Genocide also was very stoutly celebrated-inclusive of a demanding tone-in Teheran,things changed for many of us drastically….
And above all when the 3rd Republic of Armenia came to be,eversomore…
For self many like self realized that WE HAVE NOW OUR OWN STATE/NATION. If the above may sound a bit contra nostaligc to some ,i am certain there are many like sself that prefer to have a poor Armenia ,with less money making oppertunities(for the Armenian greed is also pretty well known) but yet <THE FEELING THAT THE LAND BELOW YOUR FEET IS YOURS.What is more ,if we continue to long for the 2nd adopted countries as mentioned above, then when do we begin to realize that in those countries the HOSTS might besgin be suspicious about us .That is¨ what kind of people are these Armenians that even after achieving statehood and having a Gov.t and army and what not,they still wish to be amongst us¨ instead of planning to by and by move to their motherland.Especially with all that Fanfare of ¨´Liberating Artsakhmnagornnyi Karabagh….
Just to hand latest edition of USArmenia magazine from L.A. with a huge picture of Monte on cover,amoiuncing Film on Monte¨s Struggle—
really I am puzzled. Even if for some reason or another, some of us cannot as yet Repatriate to Armenia/Artsakh,especially the young non married… we should encourage those who can and wish to do so .Fact of the matter is I have several times of mentioned on this Forum and in others that we begin to form into Rank & file ,PCA´s Prof. Colleagues Assoc. then establish National Investment Trust Fund ,preparing for the BIG REPATRIATION!!!
For without Big Fund we cannot ealize much.Build our own Townships in areas wide open in both RA and Artsakh….
I am beginning hope that this will come to pass and the Bolsahye wioll not miss the Bosphorus Istanbulla and the ArabaHye long for Beirut or Baghdad.Aleppo.What is more whether we like it or not the Middle East is fast chaning its face.Alos Egypt.Not mentioning the countries West of Egypt as there are pretty very few AArmenians there…
Time to think sseriously about getting ready FOR REPATRIATION
Vartan
First and foremost, I want to note that I am not a linguist, but I love, repeat love, to read in Western Armenian. So, my arguments are a layman’s argument in the choice of two words I used, DREAM and CALAMITY.
Dream is a word that is used both as a verb and a noun. When used as a verb, it conveys a longing. Unfortunately I have not yet learned to type in Armenian, therefore I leave it up to you to conjure sentences using the Armenian word dream as a verb. Now try to use ethereal as a verb, I do not think that you will be able to.
Hence is my choice for the word ‘dreamy’ instead of ethereal, because that is what, in my view, best conveys Dzarougian psyche. There is an intense feeling of longing for those by gone days in Haleb in each story of the collection of his personal experiences growing and maturing in Haleb. Naturally in objecting I never, for a second neither doubted on the good intentions of Jennifer nor questioned her scrutiny of the words she chose to use. As I noted, translation is an impossibly taxing art.
As to my choice for the word calamity, it was entirely mine. I never checked any dictionary. As far as I am concerned capitalized Calamity for Yeghern, uniquely defines the Armenian Genocide as the capitalized Holocaust does for the genocide of the Jews. I am fully aware of the objections to using the word Yeghern.
As to why the word Yeghern (The Calamity) or Medz Yeghern (The Big Calamity) best embodies the Armenian Genocide, I quote the first Foreign Minister of the third RoA, Raffi Hovannisian:
” Worse than genocide, as incredible as that sounds, is the premeditated deprivation of a people of its ancestral heartland. And that’s precisely what happened. In what amounted to the Great Armenian Dispossession, a nation living for more than three millennia upon its historic patrimony– at times amid its own sovereign Kingdoms and more frequently as a subject of occupying empires– was in a matter of months brutally, literally, and completely eradicated from its land. Unprecedented in human history, this expropriation of homes and lands, churches and monasteries, schools and colleges, libraries and hospitals, properties and infrastructures constitutes to this day a murder, not only of a people, but of a civilization, a culture, a time-earned way of life. This is where the debate about calling it genocide or not becomes absurd, trivial, and tertiary”
Yes, incredible as it sounds, it was worse than Genocide!
I don’t argue that the word “dreamy” might convey better the Armenian երազային, but because we’re talking about English, you know that there are words that don’t convey exactly the Armenian meaning; say, for instance, the equivalence for կարօտ/garod. (The same happens with some English words when we try to translate them into Armenian.) I think, however, that a fluent native English speaker may have a closer appreciation of what sounds better in his/her mother language.
About Yeghern: I’m 100% in agreement about its unique meaning (except that you may want to check a dictionary). After so much derision and scorn poured over that word, it is refreshing to read someone who reflects seriously on it.