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AUTHOR ANSWERS QUESTIONS ABOUT MEMOIR ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
By Kristin Ross
SU The Daily Orange
http://www.dailyorange.com/news/author-answers-questions-about-memoir-on-armenian-genocide-1.2720078
Dec 1 2011
Syracuse University, NY
One morning, Bruce Smith said he spotted a student simultaneously
working out on an elliptical machine in the gym and reading "Black
Dog of Fate," Peter Balakian's memoir about his grandmother's survival
in the Armenian Genocide. Smith said he would like to live in a world
where all students copied this act.
Smith, an English professor at Syracuse University, used this anecdote
to introduce featured speaker and fellow friend Balakian to those
gathered inside Gifford Auditorium on Wednesday for the next event
in the fall 2011 Raymond Carver Reading Series.
Students enrolled in ETS 107: "Living Writers" conducted a Q-and-A
session with Balakian at 3:45 p.m. about his memoir, "Black Dog of
Fate." The event reconvened at 5:30 p.m. and Balakian performed a
reading from his book as well as some of his original poetry.
As a whole, Balakian said the Armenian culture's reaction has been
very supportive of "Black Dog of Fate." First published in 1997,
it is a New York Times Notable Book. Balakian said the memoir took
him about seven years to complete, and during that time, the book
went through multiple revisions before coming together.
Dated just after World War I, Balakian said the Armenian Genocide
in Turkey is comparable to the Holocaust in Germany. To this day,
Balakian said the Turkish government is in denial that the Armenian
Genocide ever happened.
"Historically, the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust are
interconnected," Balakian said. "Germany was Turkey's wartime ally
during World War I. Thousands of pages of eyewitness testimony to the
Armenian Genocide were written by German foreign officers and military
officers, and therefore, reside in the archives in Germany today."
Balakian's grandmother was a survivor of the Armenian Genocide. In
"Black Dog of Fate," Balakian retells the horror stories she used to
tell him when he was younger.
He thought his grandmother chose to open up to him rather than any
other family member partly due to the generational gap, he said.
"I think these stories were too locked in shame and fear," he said.
"They were connected to my grandma's breakdowns and struggles."
After the event was over, freshman Will Valle was among a handful of
students who stood in line to meet Balakian and get an autograph.
"He's probably the most widely known author that's come to class so
far this semester," Valle said.
Valle, who is an undeclared major in the College of Arts and Sciences,
said he particularly enjoyed when Balakian read some of his poetry,
which Valle never heard before. After the event, Valle said he would
consider reading Balakian's poetry in the future.
Overall, Valle said he had a positive reaction to the memoir,
although he thought the book became intense when it described the
Armenian Genocide.
"I was surprised that this was the first thing I had ever read
about the Armenian Genocide," Valle said. "All through high school,
I never read anything about the genocide, and so I'm glad I finally
read something that covered that."
By Kristin Ross
SU The Daily Orange
http://www.dailyorange.com/news/author-answers-questions-about-memoir-on-armenian-genocide-1.2720078
Dec 1 2011
Syracuse University, NY
One morning, Bruce Smith said he spotted a student simultaneously
working out on an elliptical machine in the gym and reading "Black
Dog of Fate," Peter Balakian's memoir about his grandmother's survival
in the Armenian Genocide. Smith said he would like to live in a world
where all students copied this act.
Smith, an English professor at Syracuse University, used this anecdote
to introduce featured speaker and fellow friend Balakian to those
gathered inside Gifford Auditorium on Wednesday for the next event
in the fall 2011 Raymond Carver Reading Series.
Students enrolled in ETS 107: "Living Writers" conducted a Q-and-A
session with Balakian at 3:45 p.m. about his memoir, "Black Dog of
Fate." The event reconvened at 5:30 p.m. and Balakian performed a
reading from his book as well as some of his original poetry.
As a whole, Balakian said the Armenian culture's reaction has been
very supportive of "Black Dog of Fate." First published in 1997,
it is a New York Times Notable Book. Balakian said the memoir took
him about seven years to complete, and during that time, the book
went through multiple revisions before coming together.
Dated just after World War I, Balakian said the Armenian Genocide
in Turkey is comparable to the Holocaust in Germany. To this day,
Balakian said the Turkish government is in denial that the Armenian
Genocide ever happened.
"Historically, the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust are
interconnected," Balakian said. "Germany was Turkey's wartime ally
during World War I. Thousands of pages of eyewitness testimony to the
Armenian Genocide were written by German foreign officers and military
officers, and therefore, reside in the archives in Germany today."
Balakian's grandmother was a survivor of the Armenian Genocide. In
"Black Dog of Fate," Balakian retells the horror stories she used to
tell him when he was younger.
He thought his grandmother chose to open up to him rather than any
other family member partly due to the generational gap, he said.
"I think these stories were too locked in shame and fear," he said.
"They were connected to my grandma's breakdowns and struggles."
After the event was over, freshman Will Valle was among a handful of
students who stood in line to meet Balakian and get an autograph.
"He's probably the most widely known author that's come to class so
far this semester," Valle said.
Valle, who is an undeclared major in the College of Arts and Sciences,
said he particularly enjoyed when Balakian read some of his poetry,
which Valle never heard before. After the event, Valle said he would
consider reading Balakian's poetry in the future.
Overall, Valle said he had a positive reaction to the memoir,
although he thought the book became intense when it described the
Armenian Genocide.
"I was surprised that this was the first thing I had ever read
about the Armenian Genocide," Valle said. "All through high school,
I never read anything about the genocide, and so I'm glad I finally
read something that covered that."