Winter 2009

Armenian - 416.001

An Introduction to Modern Armenian Literature

Instructor: Bardakjian, Kevork	Hours: 3
Level: Undergraduate	Language: None

In the period under discussion (16th-20th Centuries), Armenian literature flourished mostly in the Armenian dispersion. Alongside traditional literature in Classical Armenian, there had long emerged a new, secular literary trend, expressed in Middle Armenian. Responding to a growing national awareness, Armenian writers in the 19th century revised some of the principal elements of Armenian identity and placed a greater emphasis on its political aspects. Such trends and many innovative ones continued into the 20th century, but the Genocide of 1915 brought Western Armenian literature to an abrupt end. This tradition survived in the post-Genocide dispersion, at the same time as a new literature began to emerge in Soviet Armenia. This course will focus on a wide range of issues that reshaped Armenian letters in the modern period: from recovered and fresh ideas, renewed awareness and genres throughout the 16th-18th centuries, to the clash, in subsequent centuries, of old and new values; identity, legitimacy and continuity; nationalism, nationhood, and literary reactions to violence; and cultural, aesthetic and social concerns, all against a historical background.

Meets With:

• Armenian 416.001