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Daniel Varoujan (, 20 April 188426 August 1915) was an
Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...
poet of the early 20th century. At the age of 31, when he was reaching international stature, he was deported and murdered by the Young Turk government, as part of the officially planned and executed
Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...
.


Life and education

Varoujan was born Daniel Tchboukkiarian (Դանիէլ Չպուքքեարեան) in the village of Prknig (now called ÇayboyuMaggie Blank, "Pirkinik, Perkinik, Perkenik, Perknig, Perknik, Prknik

/ref>) near the town of
Sivas Sivas is a city in central Turkey. It is the seat of Sivas Province and Sivas District.İl Beledi ...
in Turkey. After attending the local school, he was sent in 1896, the year of the Hamidian massacres, to Istanbul, where he attended the Mkhitarian school. He then continued his education at the Moorat-Raphael College in Venice, and in 1905 entered
Ghent University Ghent University (, abbreviated as UGent) is a Public university, public research university located in Ghent, in the East Flanders province of Belgium. Located in Flanders, Ghent University is the second largest Belgian university, consisting o ...
in
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
, where he followed courses in literature, sociology and economics. In 1909 he returned to his village where he taught for three years. After his marriage with Araksi Varoujan in 1912, he became the principal of St. Gregory The Illuminator School in Constantinople.


Mehean literary group

In 1914, he established the ''Mehean'' literary group and magazine with Gostan Zarian, Hagop Oshagan, Aharon Dadourian and Kegham Parseghian. The movement aimed to start an Armenian literary and artistic renaissance. Participants saw as their purpose creating a "center", a temple of Art which, according to their manifesto, would attract a fragmented and spiritually scattered nation in order to promote its artistic creativity. Heavily influenced by Nietzschean ideas, they struggled, however, to reconcile two opposing directions in their understanding of ends and means, that is, between art as means to find a "center" for the nation, or centering the nation as a means to achieving meaningful and universal artistic creation, the latter being Varoujan's position. The fundamental ideology of ''Mehean'' was expressed in the following excerpt of their manifesto on the importance of recreating a genuinely autochthonous creative "spirit" in Armenian literature:
We announce the worship and the expression of the Armenian spirit, because the Armenian spirit is alive, but appears only occasionally. We say: Without the Armenian spirit there is no Armenian literature and no Armenian artist. Every true artist expresses only his own race's spirit...


Death

According to Grigoris Balakian, who saw the victims in Chankiri on the day of their departure and later talked with their Turkish carriage drivers, Varoujan and four other detainees were being transferred from Chankiri to Ankara when their carriage was intercepted at a place called Tiuna. At that location, beside a stream, they were murdered by four Kurds headed by a local criminal named Halo acting under the instructions of members of the Ittihadist committee in Chankiri. The senior of the two escorting policemen was aware of the committee's plan and allowed them to be taken off the carriage. After the murders, the Kurds divided the clothing and possessions of the victims among themselves and the policemen. The Armenian writer and doctor Roupen Sevag and three other eyewitnesses described the torture and death of Varoujan. After being arrested and jailed, they were told that they were being taken to a village. On the way, a Turkish official and his assistant, accompanied by five heavily armed "policemen", stopped the convoy. After robbing the five prisoners, the first two who were in charge left and ordered the other five to take them away. After taking them to the woods, they attacked the prisoners, took off their clothes until all of them were left naked. Then they tied them one by one to the trees and started cutting them slowly with knives. Their screams could be heard by witnesses in hiding from a long distance. One of Varoujan's major works was ''The Song of the Bread'' (Հացին երգը) a fifty-page collection of poems. Confiscated during the genocide, it was an unfinished manuscript at the time of his death. Reportedly saved by bribing Turkish officials. ''The Song of the Bread'' was published posthumously in 1921. The poems celebrate the simple majesty of village agricultural life led by Armenian peasant farmers. More than anyone else of their time, Siamanto and Varoujan verbalized the hopes of the Armenians around the start of the 20th century. Using legends, old epics, and pagan mythology as a springboard and allegory for their aspirations, they awaited the
Armenian people Armenians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the Armenian highlands of West Asia.Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiq ...
's deliverance from
Sharia Law Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on scriptures of Islam, particularly the Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' refers to immutable, inta ...
,
decolonisation Decolonization is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby Imperialism, imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. The meanings and applications of the term are disputed. Some scholar ...
, and the rebirth of Armenian literature and the arts.


In popular culture


Films

Varoujan's last months, starting from his arrest to death, were portrayed in an award-winning short arthouse film '' Taniel'' by British director Garo Berberian, narrated by
Sean Bean Sean Bean (born Shaun Mark Bean; 17 April 1959) is an English actor. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he made his professional debut in a production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' in 1983 at The Watermill Theatre. Retaining his ...
.


Bibliography

Varoujan produced four major volumes of poetry: *''Shivers'' (Սարսուռներ, 1906, Venice) *''The Heart of the Race'' (Ցեղին սիրտը, 1909, Constantinople) *''Pagan Songs'' (Հեթանոս երգեր, 1912, Constantinople) *''The Song of the Bread'' (Հացին երգը, 1921, Constantinople). Other editions: *Varoujan, Daniel. Le chant du pain (Marseilles: Editions Parentheses, 1990). *Varujan, Daniel. Il canto del pane (Milan: Edizioni Angelo Guerini e Associati, 1992). *Varuzhan, Daniel. Արծիւներու կարավանը (Erevan: "Hayastan" Hratarakchutyun, 1969). *Բանաստեղծական երկեր (Antelias: Tp. Kilikioy Katoghikosutean, 1986). *Բանաստեղծություններ (Erevan: Haypethrat, 1955). *Ձօն (Erevan: Hayastan Hratarakchutyun, 1975). *Երկեր (Erevan: "Hayastan," 1969). *Երկեր (Jerusalem: "Haralez Hratarakchutiwn," 1973). *Երկեր (Erevan: "Sovetakan Grogh" Hratarakchutyun, 1984). *Երկերի լիակատար ժողովածու երեք հատորով (Erevan: Haykakan SSH GA Hratarakchutyun, 1986, 1987). *Հարճը (Erevan: Haypethrat, 1946). *Հարճը (Beirut: Tparan Etvan, 1952). *Հարճը (Erevan: "Sovetakan Grogh" Hratarakchutyun, 1977). *Հատընտիր (Istanbul: Grakan Akumb-Zhamanak Gortsaktsutiwn, 1994). *Հատընտիրներ (Istanbul: Zhamanak, 1994). *Հացին երգը (Jerusalem: Tparan Srbots Hakobeants, 1950). *Հացին երգը (Erevan: Haypethrat, 1964). *Հացին երգը (Constantinople: O. Arzuman, 1921). *Հեթանոս երգեր (Ghalatia onstantinople Tpagrutiwn "Shant," 1912). *Հեթանոս երգեր (Jerusalem: Tparan Srbots Hakobeants, 1953). *Հեթանոս երգեր. Հացին երգը. հատուածներ (Venice-S. Ghazar: Mkhitarean hratarakutiwn, 1981). *Նամականի (Erevan: Haypethrat, 1965). *Poemes Varoujean (Beirut: Impr. Hamaskaine, 1972). *Սարսուռներ ( erusalem:Srbots Hakobeants, 1950). *Սարսուռներ. Ցեղին սիրտը. հատուածներ (Venice-S. Ghazar: Mkhitarean hratarakutiwn, 1981). *Stikhi (Moscow: Khudozhestvennaia lit-ra, 1984). *Stikhi (Erevan: Izd-vo "Sovetakan Grogh," 1985). *Ցեղին սիրտը (Constantinople: Hratarakutiwn Artsiw Zogh. Gravacharanotsi, 1909). *Ցեղին սիրտը (Jerusalem: Tparan Srbots Hakobeants, 1953). *Varoujean: poems (Beirut: Impr. Hamaskaine, n.d.). About Varoujan: *Esajanian, Levon. Դանիէլ Վարուժան (կեանքը եւ գործը) (Constantinople: Berberian, 1919).


See also

* Armenian literature * Armenian notables deported from the Ottoman capital in 1915


References

Notes Citations


External links


ArmenianHouse.org biography of Daniel Varujan

NetArmenie page on Daniel Varujan (French)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Varoujan, Daniel Armenian male poets People who died in the Armenian genocide Armenians from the Ottoman Empire 1915 deaths 1884 births 19th-century Armenian poets 20th-century Armenian poets San Lazzaro degli Armeni alumni 19th-century Armenian male writers 20th-century Armenian male writers Catholics from Armenia Members of the Armenian Catholic Church Eastern Catholic poets