The Armenian Studies Program web page is sponsored by a grant from
The Bertha and John Garabedian Charitable
Foundation, Fresno.
Prof. Barlow Der
Mugrdechian, Director of the Armenian Studies Program at
Organized by Dr. Kevork
Bardakjian, Marie Manoogian Professor of Modern
Armenian Literature at the
The workshop opened on
Friday,
April 17. The format for the workshop called for two or three
participants to each present for twenty-five minutes, followed by a discussion.
Sessions
were chaired by Dr. Theo van Lint, Calouste Gulbenkian Professor of
Armenian Studies at Oxford University, Dr. Kevork Bardakjian, Dr.
Khachig
Tölölyan, Professor of English at Wesleyan University, Dr. Talar Chahinian of
UCLA, and Prof. Barlow Der Mugrdechian of Fresno
State.
Papers covered many topics,
including “Some versions of the Armenian Epic Poem, Sasna Tzrer,” “The
Contemporary Novel in
Der Mugrdechian presented a
paper on “Genocide,
Identity, and Memory in Post-Genocide Armenian-American
Literature,” focusing on the works of late twentieth century writers and
especially
on Peter Balakian’s Black Dog of Fate.
One session was devoted to
translation, a field that is deserving of more attention. Papers in
this panel
included “The Reception and Translation of Dante in the Armenian World,” by
Sona Harutyunian, “Durian and Translation: Many
Journeys, Several Destinations,
No Arrival,” by Khachig Tölölyan, “Translation and other Creations: The
International Context of Armenian
Culture,” by Theo van Lint, and “Translation:
An Art of Creation or Simulation?” by Kevork Bardakjian.
Participants had the
opportunity
to interact in an warm atmosphere at a dinner party hosted Saturday
night by Dr. Kevork and Flora Bardakjian at their
The workshop concluded in
on Sunday,
April 19, with an open forum on Armenia-Diaspora literary relations,
chaired by Prof. Der Mugrdechian.
Participants then visited
the
St. John Armenian Church in