GERMAN PUBLICATION OF “THE BOOK OF WHISPERS” BY VARUJAN VOSGANIAN REACTS WITH PRAISE
[ Part 2.2: "Attached Text" ]
19:56, 8 November, 2013
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. Only 2 months after the German
publication of “The Book of Whispers” novel by the
Romanian-Armenian writer Varujan Vosganian, large scale materials
appeared in the literary press of Austria, Germany and Switzerland
with words of high praise. Armenpress reports that Frankfurter
AllgemeineZeitung (FAZ) periodical reacted upon the German
publication of the novel like this: “A wonderful novel,
which is compelling not only from literary viewpoint but also as
a document of memories,” the periodical writes. The Book of
Whispers begins in a picturesque register, on a lane of the Armenian
quarter of Focºani in the 1950s, among the steam of freshly roasted
coffee and the scents of grandmother Armenuhi’s larder, among
the old books and photographs of grandfather Garabet.
But the reader is not left to savour the intimacy of this hearth
and home and nor is he invited to chat with the merry folk who in
peacetime spin stories about Ara the Fair and Tigran the Great. Varujan
Vosganian’s “old Armenians from childhood” have
no delectable tales to tell, but rather events that are thoroughly
disturbing.
In narrating these events, they attempt to disburden themselves of
a trauma - their own and that of their forbears.
The history of the 1915 genocide against the Armenians, the history
of the interminable convoys of those banished into the Circles of
Death, into the Deir ez Zor Desert, the secret history of Armenian
freemasonry in Romania, of General Dro’s army, the history of
the Armenians who followed the path of exile in the Stalinist period -
all these and many other biographically filtered histories are to be
found illustrated in the pages of this unsettling book.
Varujan Vosganian was born in Craiova on 25 July 1958. He spent his
childhood and adolescence in Focºani. He is a graduate of the Faculty
of Commerce of the Academy of Economic Studies and of the Faculty of
Mathematics of Bucharest University. He is a Doctor of Economics, a
founder of the Romanian Society for Economics, an International Adviser
to the European Union’s Centre for Political Studies, based in
Brussels, and a member of the Young Politicians Club (London). He is
the Senator for Jassy and between 2006 and 2008 he was Minister of
Finance and the Economy. He is President of the Union of Armenians
in Romania and Vice President of the Romanian Writers’ Union.
Besides various theoretical works, mainly on economic subjects, he
has published three volumes of poetry : ªamanul albastru (The Blue
Shaman) (1994), Ochiul alb al reginei (The White Eye of the Queen)
(2001), and Iisus cu o mie de braşe (Jesus with a Thousand Arms)
(2004). His collection of novellas, Statuia comandorului (The Statue
of the Commander) (1994) was awarded the Prize of the Bucharest
Writers’ Association. Varujan Vosganian has written more than
five hundred articles, studies and essays on economics, politics, and
literature, which have been translated in English, Spanish, Russian,
Ukrainian, and Armenian. The novel The Book of Whispers, published
in 2009, was greeted as a revelation by the Romanian critics. It has
earned extensive praise and is already regarded as one of the most
important books of contemporary Romanian literature.
http://armenpress.am/eng/news/739438/german-publication-of-%E2%80%9Cthe-book
-of-whispers%E2%80%9D-by-varujan-vosganian-reacts-with-praise.html
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
[ Part 2.2: "Attached Text" ]
19:56, 8 November, 2013
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. Only 2 months after the German
publication of “The Book of Whispers” novel by the
Romanian-Armenian writer Varujan Vosganian, large scale materials
appeared in the literary press of Austria, Germany and Switzerland
with words of high praise. Armenpress reports that Frankfurter
AllgemeineZeitung (FAZ) periodical reacted upon the German
publication of the novel like this: “A wonderful novel,
which is compelling not only from literary viewpoint but also as
a document of memories,” the periodical writes. The Book of
Whispers begins in a picturesque register, on a lane of the Armenian
quarter of Focºani in the 1950s, among the steam of freshly roasted
coffee and the scents of grandmother Armenuhi’s larder, among
the old books and photographs of grandfather Garabet.
But the reader is not left to savour the intimacy of this hearth
and home and nor is he invited to chat with the merry folk who in
peacetime spin stories about Ara the Fair and Tigran the Great. Varujan
Vosganian’s “old Armenians from childhood” have
no delectable tales to tell, but rather events that are thoroughly
disturbing.
In narrating these events, they attempt to disburden themselves of
a trauma - their own and that of their forbears.
The history of the 1915 genocide against the Armenians, the history
of the interminable convoys of those banished into the Circles of
Death, into the Deir ez Zor Desert, the secret history of Armenian
freemasonry in Romania, of General Dro’s army, the history of
the Armenians who followed the path of exile in the Stalinist period -
all these and many other biographically filtered histories are to be
found illustrated in the pages of this unsettling book.
Varujan Vosganian was born in Craiova on 25 July 1958. He spent his
childhood and adolescence in Focºani. He is a graduate of the Faculty
of Commerce of the Academy of Economic Studies and of the Faculty of
Mathematics of Bucharest University. He is a Doctor of Economics, a
founder of the Romanian Society for Economics, an International Adviser
to the European Union’s Centre for Political Studies, based in
Brussels, and a member of the Young Politicians Club (London). He is
the Senator for Jassy and between 2006 and 2008 he was Minister of
Finance and the Economy. He is President of the Union of Armenians
in Romania and Vice President of the Romanian Writers’ Union.
Besides various theoretical works, mainly on economic subjects, he
has published three volumes of poetry : ªamanul albastru (The Blue
Shaman) (1994), Ochiul alb al reginei (The White Eye of the Queen)
(2001), and Iisus cu o mie de braşe (Jesus with a Thousand Arms)
(2004). His collection of novellas, Statuia comandorului (The Statue
of the Commander) (1994) was awarded the Prize of the Bucharest
Writers’ Association. Varujan Vosganian has written more than
five hundred articles, studies and essays on economics, politics, and
literature, which have been translated in English, Spanish, Russian,
Ukrainian, and Armenian. The novel The Book of Whispers, published
in 2009, was greeted as a revelation by the Romanian critics. It has
earned extensive praise and is already regarded as one of the most
important books of contemporary Romanian literature.
http://armenpress.am/eng/news/739438/german-publication-of-%E2%80%9Cthe-book
-of-whispers%E2%80%9D-by-varujan-vosganian-reacts-with-praise.html
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress