Silva Kaputikian (1919 - 2006)|
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Author of the famous poem “Khosk im vordun” (Lines to my child), Kaputikian will always move her
public when her activist speeches and her undying poetry are read.
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Silva Kaputikian (1919 - 2006) |
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Silva Kaputikian (Sylva Gaboudikian), still a major figure in
contemporary Armenian literature, in her didactic poem, "Lines to My Child,"
implores her child to forget his mother before he forgets his mother tongue.
Social activist, oppositionist and writer Silva Kaputikian was born in Yerevan to the refugee family of Barunak Kaputikian, a Dashnak party member and a teacher, who escaped with his family from the genocide in Van. Having lost her father four months before her birth, Kaputikian was raised by her accountant mother and grandmother. She was nurtured by the violent turn of the century wars and revolution. At thirteen, her first poem appeared in “Pioner Kanch” youth journal, while she was attending Krupskaya school in Yerevan. She then went on to study and graduate from the Yerevan State University’s Humanities department in 1941 and took upper level classes at the Gorky Institute of Literature in Moscow during 1949-50. A member of the Writers’ Union since 1941 and a party member since 1945, Kaputikian was highly involved in social and national activism. She was very vocal during the post-glasnost’ era, pairing up and appealing to Russian and foreign human rights’ activists on behalf of the refugees from Nagorno Karabakh during the Sumgait massacres in Azerbejan. A tireless spokesperson for Nagorno Karabakh, Zori Balayan’s comrade in solidarity, and an impassioned advocate of the oppressed citizens of her motherland, Kaputikian symbolizes the Armenian struggle and the legacy of survival. The first Russian translation of Kaputikian’s collected poems appeared in 1947; since then her poetry has been translated into many other languages. Some of her famous prose works include travel essays, written of her visits to the Armenian communities in various foreign countries during and after the Soviet era. Kaputikian was an honorary member of the Yerevan National Academy of Sciences, and effectively used her literary name and prestige for raising such issues as nature conservation, corruption in the leadership, silencing of the press, and abuses of human rights in Armenia. She died on August 25th, 2006. Her son is the celebrated sculptur Ara Shiraz, from her former marriage to poet Hovaness Shiraz. |
| Poetry Books | ||
| Oreri het [With the Days], 1945 | ||
| On the Shores of the Ganges, 1947 | ||
| Im harazatnere [My Intimates], 1953 | ||
| Srtabats zruits [Candid Conversation], 1955 | ||
| Bari yert [Bon Voyage], 1957 | ||
| Mtorumner chanaparhi kesin [Midway Reflections], 1961 | ||
| Yot kayaranner [Seven Stations], 1966 | ||
| Im eje [My Page], 1968 | ||
| Depi khorke leran [Toward the Mountain’s Depths], 1972 | ||
| Lilit [Lilith], 1981 | ||
| Dzmer e galis [Winter Is Arriving], 1983 | ||
| Tagnap [Alarm], unpublished |
| Essays | ||
| Karavannere der kailum en [The Caravans Are Still Walking], 1964 | ||
| Khchankar hogu yev kartezi guinerits [A Mosaic Made of the Soul and Atlas Colors], 1976 | ||
| Im zhamanake [My Epoch], 1979 | ||
| Ejer pak gzrotsnerits [Pages from Sealed Manuscripts], 1997 | ||
| Im katsane ashkharhi chanaparhnerin [My Path Along the World’s Highways], 2002 |
| Children's Literature | ||
| Pokrik Ara, akanj ara [Little Ara, Listen], 1950 | ||
| Mer Lalike, sirunike [Our Pretty Lalik], 1955 | ||
| Tane, bakum, poghotsum [At Home, In the Yard, In the Street], 1953 | ||
| Mi tarov el metsatsank [Older By One More Year], 1958 | ||
| Menk ognum enk mairikin [We’re Helping Mother], 1961 | ||
| Tsaghkanots [Flower Garden], 1984 | ||
| Partez [Garden], 2002 |
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The Walnut Tree translations by Diana Der-Hovanessian |
When the Telephone Rings and No One Answers |
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There is a walnut tree growing in the vineyard at the very edge of the world. My people, you are like that huge ancient tree-- with branches blessed by the graces but sprawling over the small corner of land; roots and arms spread out and spilling your fruit to nourish foreign soils. (1946) |
There are a thousand kinds of sights, shrill, bass, pressed from water, from lungs, pressed from stones, trees, and winds. And as if there weren't enough moaning, men stretched metal wires house to house so that the ring of a telephone can interrupt the laughter in a room, while in another place a hopeless girl drops the receiver into its lever and her head into a deaf pillow. (1963) |
| Sources: Most of the above biographical information was submitted by
Shushan Avagyan, who translated the Armenian provided by Kaputikian. Avagyan was born in Yerevan, Armenia; she is currently working on her doctorate in English and Women's Studies, and is the recipient of Dalkey Archive Press fellowship at the Illinois State University. She can be reached at savagya@ilstu.edu. The poems were submitted by Diana Der-Hovanessian. They are reprinted from AIWA's forthcoming Anthology of Armenian Women's Poetry. |