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THE FORTY DAYS OF MUSA DAGH
by FRANZ WERFEL
Key Speakers:
- DR. VAHRAM SHEMMASSIAN, Associate Professor and Director of the Armenian
Studies Program, California State University, Northridge
"The Genesis of Franz Werfel's The Forty Days of Musa Dagh"
- DR. RUBINA PEROOMIAN, Research Associate, University of California, Los
Angeles
"The Forty Days of Musa Dagh - A Timeless Tale of Resistance, Gallantry, and
Love"
FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012 - 7:30PM
GLENDALE CENTRAL LIBRARY AUDITORIUM
222 E. Harvard Street, Glendale
Admission is free. Reception to follow. Validated Parking at Marketplace
parking structure, Harvard & Maryland. For more information, call (818)
243-4112. Presentation will be in English with a summary in Armenian.
The Forty Days of Musa Dagh is Franz Werfel's masterpiece that brought him
international acclaim in 1933, drawing the world's attention to the Armenian
Genocide, and foreshadowing the Holocaust that was to come. This is the
story of how the people of several Armenian villages in the mountains along
the coast of present-day Turkey and Syria chose not to obey the deportation
order of the Turkish government. Instead, they fortified a plateau on the
slopes of Musa Dagh-Mount Moses-and repelled Turkish soldiers and military
police during the summer of 1915 while holding out hope for the warships of
the Allies to save them.
The original translation from German by Geoffrey Dunlop has been revised and
expanded by translator James Reidel and scholar Violet Lutz. The Dunlop
translation had excised approximately 25% of the original two-volume text to
streamline the novel for film adaptation. The restoration of these passages
and their new translation gives a fuller picture of the extensive inner
lives of the characters. What is more apparent now is the personal story
that Werfel tells, informed by events and people in his own life, a device
he often used in his other novels as well.
by FRANZ WERFEL
Key Speakers:
- DR. VAHRAM SHEMMASSIAN, Associate Professor and Director of the Armenian
Studies Program, California State University, Northridge
"The Genesis of Franz Werfel's The Forty Days of Musa Dagh"
- DR. RUBINA PEROOMIAN, Research Associate, University of California, Los
Angeles
"The Forty Days of Musa Dagh - A Timeless Tale of Resistance, Gallantry, and
Love"
FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012 - 7:30PM
GLENDALE CENTRAL LIBRARY AUDITORIUM
222 E. Harvard Street, Glendale
Admission is free. Reception to follow. Validated Parking at Marketplace
parking structure, Harvard & Maryland. For more information, call (818)
243-4112. Presentation will be in English with a summary in Armenian.
The Forty Days of Musa Dagh is Franz Werfel's masterpiece that brought him
international acclaim in 1933, drawing the world's attention to the Armenian
Genocide, and foreshadowing the Holocaust that was to come. This is the
story of how the people of several Armenian villages in the mountains along
the coast of present-day Turkey and Syria chose not to obey the deportation
order of the Turkish government. Instead, they fortified a plateau on the
slopes of Musa Dagh-Mount Moses-and repelled Turkish soldiers and military
police during the summer of 1915 while holding out hope for the warships of
the Allies to save them.
The original translation from German by Geoffrey Dunlop has been revised and
expanded by translator James Reidel and scholar Violet Lutz. The Dunlop
translation had excised approximately 25% of the original two-volume text to
streamline the novel for film adaptation. The restoration of these passages
and their new translation gives a fuller picture of the extensive inner
lives of the characters. What is more apparent now is the personal story
that Werfel tells, informed by events and people in his own life, a device
he often used in his other novels as well.