Daniel Varujan

Daniel Varujan Դանիէլ Վարուժան
Daniel Varujan in the Mourad-Rafaelian College, Venice, 1905
Born	Դանիէլ Չպուքքարեան Template:1884 Brgnik village, Vilayet of Sebastia, Ottoman Empire
Died	Template:1915 Çankırı, Vilayet of Kastamonu, Ottoman Empire[1]
Pen name	Taniel Varujan
Occupation	poet
Nationality	Armenian
Education	University of Ghent,  Belgium
Spouse(s)	Araksi Varujan

Daniel Varujan or "Taniel Varujan"(Armenian: Դանիէլ Վարուժան, Դանիէլ Չպուքքարեան April 20, 1884-August 26, 1915) is one of the significant Armenian poets of the 20th century.

He was one of the greatest Armenian poets of this century. At the age of 31, when he was blossoming to become a poet of international stature, he was brutally murdered (see below) by the government of "The Young Turks", like Siamanto, Krikor Zohrab and many others, as part of the officially planned and executed Genocide of the whole Armenian nation.

Life and Education

Varujan was born in the Prknig village of Sivas, Turkey. After attending the local school, he was sent in 1896, the year of the Hamidian massacres, to Istanbul, where he attended the Mkhitarian school. He then continued his education at Mourad-Rafaelian school of Venice, and in 1905 entered the Ghent University in Belgium, where he followed courses in literature, sociology and economics. In 1909 he returned to his village where he taught for three years. After his marriage with Araksi Varujan in 1912, he became the principal of St. Gregory The Illuminator School in Istanbul.

Mehian literary group

In 1914, he established the "Mehian literary group and magazine with Gostan Zarian, Hagop Oshagan, Aharon Parseghian and Kegham Parseghian. The purpose of this movement was to start an Armenian Renaissance, to wake the nation up from centuries of slavery and darkness, to reconnect it to its great Pre-Christian past ("Mehian" means "Temple"), and to encourage it to stand up on its own feet and not tolerate any tyranny, whether from its own corrupt leadership or the Turkish government. The fundamental ideology of Mehian was expressed as:

"We announce the worship and the expression of the Armenian spirit, because the Armenian spirit is alive, but appears occasionally. We say: Without the Armenian spirit there is no Armenian literature and Armenian artist. Every true artist expresses only his own race's spirit...We say: External factors, acquired customs, foreign influences, diverted and deformed emotions have dominated the Armenian spirit, but were unable to assimilate it."

Death

An eyewitness has narrated the torture and martyrdom of Varoujan, Roupen Sevag (another great Armenian writer), and three others. After being arrested and jailed, they were told that they were being taken to a village. On the way, a Turkish official and his assistant, accompanied by five "policemen" who were armed to the teeth, stopped the convoy. After robbing the five prisoners, the first two who were in charge left and ordered the other five to take them away. After taking them to the woods, they attacked the prisoners, took off their clothes until all of them were completely naked. Then they tied them one by one to the trees and started cutting them slowly with their knives. Their screams could be heard from a long distance where this eyewitness was hiding.

One of his great works The Song of the Bread (Hatsin Yerge) a fifty page collection of poems, was confiscated during the genocide. It was later published posthumously in 1921. The poems celebrate the simple majesty of village agricultural life, celebrating the Armenian peasant of Anatolia.

More than anyone else of their time, Siamanto and Varoujan verbalized the hopes of the Armenians at the turn of the century. Using legends, old epics, and pagan history at the springboard and allegory for their aspirations, they waited for deliverance from oppression and the rebirth in Armenian arts.

Bibliography

Varoujan has produced four great volumes of poetry:

• Shivers (1906)
• The Heart of the Race (1909)
• Pagan Songs (1912)
• The Song of the Bread (1921).

The last book was an unfinished manuscript which was saved by bribing Turkish officials.

Writings by Varoujan:

• Varoujan, Daniel. Le chant du pain (Marseilles: Editions Parentheses, 1990).
• Varujan, Daniel. Il canto del pane (Milan: Edizioni Angelo Guerini e Associati, 1992).
• Varuzhan, Daniel. Artsivneru karavane (Erevan: "Hayastan" Hratarakchutyun, 1969).
• Banasteghtsakan erker (Antelias: Tp. Kilikioy Katoghikosutean, 1986).
• Banasteghtsutyunner (Erevan: Haypethrat, 1955).
• Dzon (Erevan: Hayastan Hratarakchutyun, 1975).
• Erker (Erevan: "Hayastan," 1969).
• Erker (Jerusalem: "Haralez Hratarakchutiwn," 1973).
• Erker (Erevan: "Sovetakan Grogh" Hratarakchutyun, 1984).
• Erkeri liakatar zhoghovatsu: erek hatorov (Erevan: Haykakan SSH GA Hratarakchutyun, 1986, 1987).
• Harche (Erevan: Haypethrat, 1946).
• Harche (Beirut: Tparan Etvan, 1952).
• Harche (Erevan: "Sovetakan Grogh" Hratarakchutyun, 1977).
• Hatentir (Istanbul: Grakan Akumb-Zhamanak Gortsaktsutiwn, 1994).
• Hatintirner (Istanbul: Zhamanak, 1994).
• Hatsin erge (Jerusalem: Tparan Srbots Hakobeants, 1950).
• Hatsin erge (Erevan: Haypethrat, 1964).
• Hayin erge (Constantinople: O. Arzuman, 1921).
• Hetanos erger (Ghalatia [Constantinople]: Tpagrutiwn "Shant," 1912).
• Hetanos erger (Jerusalem: Tparan Srbots Hakobeants, 1953).
• Hetanos erger; Hatsin erge: hatuatsner< (Venice-S. Ghazar: Mkhitarean hratarakutiwn, 1981).
• Namagani (Erevan: Haypethrat, 1965).
• Namakani (Erevan: Hayastan hrtrkchtn, 1965).
• Poemes Varoujean (Beirut: Impr. Hamaskaine, 1972).
• Sarsowrhner ([Jerusalem:] Srbots Hakobeants, 1950).
• Sarsurner; Tseghin sirte: hatuatsner (Venice-S. Ghazar: Mkhitarean hratarakutiwn, 1981).
• Stikhi (Moscow: Khudozhestvennaia lit-ra, 1984).
• Stikhi (Erevan: Izd-vo "Sovetakan Grogh," 1985).
• Tseghin sirte (Constantinople: Hratarakutiwn Artsiw Zogh. Gravacharanotsi, 1909).
• Tseghin sirte (Jerusalem: Tparan Srbots Hakobeants, 1953).
• Varoujean: poems (Beirut: Impr. Hamaskaine, n.d.).

Writings about him:

• Esajanian, Levon. Anmahner Daniel Varoujan (geankue yev kortzue) (Constantinople: Berberian, 1919).

See also

Poetry portal

• Armenian literature
• Armenian notables deported from the Ottoman capital in 1915

References

1. ^ Raymond Kévorkian: Le Génocide des Arméniens, Odile Jacob, Paris 2006 2-7381-1830-5, p. 663

External links

• ArmenianHouse.org biography of Daniel Varujan
• Bibliomonde page on Daniel Varujan (French)
• NetArmenie page on Daniel Varujan (French)

Persondata
Name	Varujan, Daniel
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1884
Place of birth	Brgnik village, Vilayet of Sebastia, Ottoman Empire
Date of death	1915
Place of death	Çankırı, Vilayet of Kastamonu, Ottoman Empire