“MY LIFE IS THE REFLECTION OF MY TIME”

“Hayernaysor”’s correspondent sat down to have an interview with prose writer, playwright, satirist, journalist and publisher, RA Distinguished Cultural Figure Samvel Khalatyan.

What made the interview easy was the fact that the correspondent was a friend of Samvel Khalatyan and knew him well.

“Hayernaysor”: Recently you turned 60 years old and received several awards during a solemn celebration. How does it feel to be 60 years old?

Samvel Kharatyan: I even feel 100 years old whenever I’m tired or in despair…but I don’t feel my age or wish to feel 100 years old only when I have negative energy. I have published over 20 books, almost all Armenian theaters have put on my plays and some of them have been translated in foreign languages. When I take a glance at all this, I truly feel 100 years old because what amazes me is when and how I did all this and how much effort I put into it. People are on the run, face social hardships and are in a unique struggle for existence. But alongside or parallel to that, I keep writing and don’t even know whether anyone needs that or not.

“Hayernaysor”: Of course people need it; otherwise, your name would have been forgotten and nobody would have suggested to become friends with you. I know that many now ask to be friends with you, even though you have enemies and opponents…

S. K.: May God be with my enemies. If it weren’t for them, I would be very sad and lonely. Enemies are like the opposition-they show me crooked in the mirror, I look at my crooked image and start thinking about being good and that makes my life easy. Can you imagine me trying to check myself? My opponents do that for me and it helps me. I’m not perfect and may God keep me away from the “perfect” because they are non-living creatures. But the strive for perfection helps me. When I see that that strive goes beyond the limit, I start writing satirical stories and short novels.

“Hayernaysor”: You probably don’t  have a hard time choosing themes or protagonists…

S. K.: Why should I have a hard time when there are themes and protagonists all around me? I go out to the street, take a look around, sit in front of the computer and come up with another satirical story. My life is the reflection of my time and there is so much satire and funny characters in time. I have written a novel by turning people who have worked with me and have been part of my life into heroes. There are ridiculous people and situations to make you laugh your heart out. They are the prisoners of time and the ideologists of that time. They would be totally different people under other conditions and in the framework of another ideology and perhaps that would have been nicer. Our days “help” me find the satirical heroes. Again, take a look around you and you’ll die from laughter.

“Hayernaysor”: You came onto the scene as a satirist. Many searched for and read your books, which presented something new in Armenian satire. Unfortunately, this genre is not active. You suddenly made the transition to dramaturgyand started writing plays. Why?

S. K.: Vahe Shahverdyan was my “godfather” in dramaturgy. He suggested that I write a year-end play to put on at the Abelyan Theater in Vanadzor and I did. I used to be fond of theater and even intended to become an actor. I played a couple of roles at the state theater, but then I fell in love and got married. At the time, my wife was a friend of chief stage director of the theater Socrat Akmakchyan…To make a long story short, I left the theater as an actor, but entered the theater as a playwright and even headed the theater named after Abelyan for several years. My first play was called “Good Knights of Vanadzor”, which was followed by new plays. One day, I noticed that I had written several plays and they had all been staged several times. I have plays which have been staged in several theaters with interpretations by different actors and directors. The play entitled “Forty Days Before Ascension” was put on in seven theaters, but I have never tried to say which was good and which was bad. I have modestly viewed the plays and given the actors and directors applause. It is a good thing to assess, complain and regret things in your mind. The same goes for my mono-dramas. Many actors and actresses have played the same role and each of them has penetrated into the world in his or her own way. Each actor has shown his or her ego. A playwright’s job is hard in that often some people accept the material merely as literature and forget about its primary significance.

“Hayernaysor”: Your plays, especially comedies, feature paradoxic heroes and situations with a formidable philosophy. Doesn’t that make the comedy “serious”?

S. K.: Isn’t life hinged on paradox? There are no absolute satirical and tragic situations. Everything is interrelated and intertwined. Life is amazing. We all think we know what life is and that we all have vast knowledge of it. However, there is a new page and a new surprise every day and every hour and we find ourselves at the crossroads of what we know and don’t know. Theater is like that as well-it’s complicated, paradoxic, amazing and interesting. That’s why I write plays and set the limit of how much I don’t know…

“Hayernaysor”: You are sixty years old and have come a long way. How would you assess Armenian youth today?

-I am optimistic and fully confide in today’s Armenian youth. Armenia has good, knowledgeable and progressive young people. Of course, many don’t read and perhaps that is the illness of our days. But I would like to see them read a lot and have knowledge of Armenian literature. That will give them a rich source of information and will help them throughout their lives. When I take any newspaper and dig deep into the topic, I discover something new. There are not many youth who read books and newspapers today. That is why authors often don’t know whom to address their works and articles.

Interview by Levon Mutafyan

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