Armenian Forum On-Line
About
Armenian Forum On-Line is a timely platform for scholarship related to modern Armenian studies. Submissions can be articles, reviews, notes and studies of academic interest. All submissions will be peer reviewed. Please send all materials electronically to the editor (afol@gomidas.org)
Review-Essay
10.1.2015
Grossman in Armenia
Discovering a Different Literary Caucasus in Vasily Grossman's An Armenian Sketchbook
As
the Caucasus became part of the Russian Empire, Russian writers,
beginning with Pushkin, created a "literary Caucasus." This Caucasus
was an exotic "Orient" of adventure, mystery, and romance. However,
this "literary Caucasus" changed in Russian literature with the author
and era. Vasily Grossman, one of the best-known representatives of
Russian literature in the 20th century, presents a Caucasus that is
different from the "exotic Orient" in his work, An Armenian Sketchbook
(1967). In Grossman's text, the Caucasus is not romanticized. Though
his account is written poetically, it is direct and realistic. It is a
kind of a narration of an ordinary man who visited Armenia. In this
respect, Grossman's Caucasus is unique in Russian literature
* Lilit F. Grigoryan is a graduate student enrolled in the MA program in Russian Translation at Kent State University. She graduated from Yerevan State University in 2007 with a BA in Russian Philology.
Further Information
* Lilit F. Grigoryan is a graduate student enrolled in the MA program in Russian Translation at Kent State University. She graduated from Yerevan State University in 2007 with a BA in Russian Philology.