Today marks great Armenian writer Hrant Matevosyan’s birthday. This is the style (third person) in which Hrant Matevosyan wrote his autobiography on one occasion in January 2001. “Hayern Aysor” presents the autobiography the way it was written and in the style it was written.

HRANT IGNATI MATEVOSYAN

Armenian writer, prose writer. Preferred genre is the novel. Has been publishing since 1960. Has written the novels Us and Our Mountains, Orange Herd, Hangover, Tashkent, Autumn Sun and Mother Leaves To Give To Marriage Her Son, the film/novel The Lord, short stories and short plays that have been published in Armenian, Russian several times and later in almost all the languages spoken in the USSR and other countries several times since 1967, becoming different collections. The Прогресс (Progress) Publishing House of Moscow has published the collection entitled The Orange Herd in Urdu language and English. In 1994, the Albin Michel Publishing House of Paris printed Matevosyan’s various works and called the collection Autumn Sun.

The films Us and Our Mountains, Autumn Sun, The Lord and This Green-Red World have been filmed on the basis of Matevosyan’s scripts. The film August has been filmed on the basis of his works. Hrant Matevosyan’s essay Metsamor and play Neutral Zone have become TV plays, and Yerevan Dramatic Theater has performed Autumn Sun and Station. Living, working on large-scale work entitled The Lord, the novel On the Line and the novel Last Light- Рассеянный свет. Has been President of the Union of Writers of Armenia since 1996.

Born in 1935 in Alaverdi-Tumanyan district in the small Ahnidzor village of Northern Armenia. Has been living in Yerevan since ’52. Has worked at printing homes and newspaper editorial offices, has studied in the History and Linguistic Department at Yerevan Pedagogical Institute, has taken script writing courses in Moscow (1965-66). Recipient of the Literature Awards of the USSR and Armenia (1984), knight of the Mesrop Mashtots Medal of the Republic of Armenia (1996).

Family-wife, daughter, son, three granddaughters for now.

The following is translator, writer Samvel Mkrtchyan’s thoughts on Hrant Matevosyan in parts:

“And so, He, the Master. Hrant Matevosyan.

His competence to predict events, better yet, the spiritual environment is amazing. He was the one who saw our spirit by deciphering another’s spirit years ago. The homeland became so “powerful” that biceps “won” over brains, boots “entered” the school, the native language, our morals and conduct were distorted and, according to him, we wrote the humiliating script of “October 27^th” together as a nation…

He knew all this. He saw with horror and predicted the accident. The country is a living organism, not a piece of land that slips away from your hands. We are the country, and perhaps we needed to be more willing and manlier to save him once again. We needed to be more heartfelt than ever and have more brains than ever. As He said, ��?Aren’t we capable of being devoted? Wasn’t our blood the blood that we shed during the many World Wars? Was it a gift to the Caesars? Were our sacrifices gifts to foreign rulers? Were our great talents the revelation of talent for those who ruled us in the palaces of the times and in the countries?’ This is what He wrote. He stated the question clearly and in a manly way-you’re either a ruler or a subject, or perhaps you are a Christian lord. Isn’t it amazing that foreigners were the ones who appreciated and understood the Master? Charents didn’t serve as a lesson, and the greedy poisoned (tried to poison) Hrant Matevosyan with the evil that has been in them for centuries. But He instinctively chose the right path, or did the right path “find” him? People are talking everywhere. See how perfect the only “pan-Armenian brand” (eating up the good people) has become! The last desperate attempt to make him renounce was in vain, but He was strong because He knew that one doesn’t renounce his brother and that the paper on the table must always be clean, and the pen must always be used to write.

Thank God, even though he was strong, he was a Good Samaritan and was originally unbreakable. If someone needed a writer, He was the one. If someone needed the truth, He was the one to tell the truth. If there was a need for a victim, He was the one again. He was the victim of our incompleteness and shallowness. Now, He is no longer with us, meaning the awakening presence, and that infinitely meaningful place, “holy place” has been turned into a desert by nerve-wrecking rejects, filling the space with arrogance and garbage. It is because there is no real Lord-the Khazein, and now they are left without a leader. They are the newest type of traitors with a red ribbon on their hands. It would be naïve to think that Saroyan was showing his Armenian inheritance when he said, ��?My books will be read again and again’. Great, glorious people know their worth. He also knew it (��?…but you will remain without a leader. I’m afraid you will be like sheep without a pastor and will be eaten up by wolves’), and He also knew the price to pay for what he was writing. When does wailing stop and the courage to look at the world proudly begin? His writings were detailed, He was bold when expressing his thoughts and He had immeasurable potential.

But in order not to become dissolved in today’s chaotic world, we must be certain that reasonable people are closer to the light (this is not a territory for the atrocious, the possessor, the teacher and the concubine), just like Hrant Matevosyan was closer to the light with his writing, speech and individuality.

And He won. “He won,” as he wrote about Saroyan once. “He won and stood next to his triumphant brothers-Saroyan, Charents, Khachaturian, Tamanyan…” Where He lived and lives, death has no space or power. The brave people of Hrant Matevosyan and the future generations will be “baptized” by waking up in a new, possible domain and homeland.

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