Paruyr Sevak (; January 24, 1924 – June 17, 1971) 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 A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

, translator and literary critic. He is considered one of the greatest Armenian poets of the 20th century.

Biography

Sevak was born Paruyr Ghazaryan () in the village of Chanakhchi (now

Zangakatun Zangakatun () is a village in the Ararat Municipality of the Ararat Province of Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is ...

Armenian SSR The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (ArSSR), also known as Soviet Armenia, or simply Armenia, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union, located in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Soviet Armenia bordered the Soviet republics ...

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

to Rafael and Anahit Soghomonyan on January 24, 1924. His ancestors had migrated to Chanakhchi, a remote, mountainous village, from the village of Havtvan in Salmast (Salmas), Iran in 1828. Young Paruyr attended the village school, where he wrote his first poems and published them in the school

wall newspaper A wall newspaper or placard newspaper is a hand-lettered or printed newspaper designed to be displayed and read in public places both indoors and outdoors, utilizing vertical surfaces such as walls, boards, and fences. Usage in Communist state ...

. Sevak spent part of his childhood and adolescence in a location called ''Navchalu yayla'' near his native village; in his early writings, he signed his writings with 'Navchalu' as the location where they were written. In 1939, he became a student at the philological faculty of

Yerevan State University Yerevan State University (YSU; , , ), also simply University of Yerevan, is the oldest continuously operating public university in Armenia. Founded in 1919, it is the largest university in the country. It is thus informally known as Armenia's ...

. He graduated in 1945. The same year he started his postgraduate studies in Armenian literature at the Abeghyan Institute of Literature of the Armenian SSR Academy of Sciences, which lasted until 1948. In 1951, Sevak went to Moscow to study at the Gorky Institute of World Literature. After graduation, he worked there as professor of translation in 1957-59. In 1960 Sevak returned to Yerevan and resumed his prolific and meaningful literary, scientific and public career. He started to work at the Abeghyan Institute of Literature as a scientific researcher. From 1966-1971 Sevak served as secretary on the Board of the

Writers Union of Armenia The Writers' Union of Armenia was founded in August 1934, simultaneously with the USSR Union of Writers and as a component part of the USSR Union. 1930s The Constituent Assembly was held during 1 August - 5 August, after which the Armenian delega ...

. In 1967 Sevak became a doctor of philology after his dissertation defense. In 1968 he was elected to the Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR. Sevak died on June 17, 1971, in a car crash while on a drive back to Yerevan. In previous years, he had voiced his criticism of the cultural policies of the Soviet government and for this, many Armenians believe, he was murdered by the Soviet government. His wife, Nelly Menagharishvili, also died in the car crash. He was buried in the backyard of his home, in Zangakatun, which later became a museum open to everyone.

Literary work

Sevak's long poem ''Anlr’eli zangakatunë'' (''The Incessant Bell-tower'') is dedicated to Armenian composer

Komitas Soghomon Soghomonian, ordained and commonly known as Komitas (; 22 October 1935), was an Ottoman-Armenian priest, musicologist, composer, arranger, singer, and choirmaster, who is considered the founder of the Armenian national school of musi ...

and to the memory of the

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 ...

Publications

* (1948) ''Anmahnerë hramayum en'' ( (The immortals command)) * (1953) ''Anhasht mtermut’yun'' ( (Irreconcilable intimacy)) * (1954) ''Siro chanaparh'' ( (Path of love)) * (1969) ''Yeghits’i luys'' ( (Let there be light) * (1971) ''Dzer tsanot’nerë'' ( (Your acquaintances)) * (1972–1976) ''Yerkeri zhoghovatsu vets’ hatorov'' ( (Collected works in six volumes)) * (1982–1983) ''Yerker: zhoghovatsu yerek’ hatorov'' ( (Collected works in three volumes))

Translations into English

* ''Selected Poems''. Translated with an introduction by Garig Basmadjian. Jerusalem: St. James Press, 1973. * ''Paruyr Sevak's Poetry: Select Translations from Armenian''. Translated by Jack Aslanian. Yerevan: VMV-Print, 2011. * ''The Incessant Bell-tower''. Translated by Svetlana Vardanian. Yerevan: Limush Press, 2015 (2nd revised ed.: 2017).

Legacy and memory

One of the main streets of Yerevan's Kanaker-Zeytun District is named after Sevak. School #123 of Yerevan is named after Paruyr Sevak. On 2018, the third series of

Dram Dram, DRAM, or drams may refer to: Technology and engineering * Dram (unit), a unit of mass and volume, and an informal name for a small amount of liquor, especially whisky or whiskey * Dynamic random-access memory, a type of electronic semicondu ...

banknotes were printed, featuring Sevak on the 1000 Dram note.

In popular culture

* ''Paruyr Sevak'' (1984), film directed by Levon Mkrtchyan, Armenfilm

Notes

References

External links

Poems by Paruyr Sevak
on Sevak.am (in Armenian)
Audio recordings of Sevak's poems
on Freebooks.do.am {{DEFAULTSORT:Sevak, Paruyr 1924 births 1971 deaths 20th-century Armenian poets 20th-century pseudonymous writers People from Ararat Province Yerevan State University alumni Seventh convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the USSR State Prize Armenian male poets Soviet Armenians Soviet male poets Road incident deaths in Armenia Road incident deaths in the Soviet Union