Talking about famous writer Hrant Matevosyan, whose birthday is today, at the request of www.aravot.am, Sos Sargsyan, People’s Artist of Armenia, stated excitedly: “There are people talking about whom…. Why? Because my heart is full of Hrant always, constantly, and continuously. When in Soviet times, Erich Maria Remarque’s ‘Three Comrades,’ which was not so brilliant in terms of literature, but would stun with its idea, was published, I was surprised, was happy and said: ‘What an impact it will have in Europe, in the world; that man has raised the issue of comradeship!’ And when Hrant wrote ‘The Master,’ I was stunned, was happy and said: ‘Aha, we, Armenians, will understand that we have always been, are and will be misfortunate, unless we master everything.’ I have read ‘The Master’ for 7-8 times; I am not satisfied, how many details, subtleties there are! I am stunned, because an Armenian thinks of himself as the master, the master of the country, the master of children, the master of trees and forests, the master…. “I was both happy and disappointed, because none of us attended, listened to Hrant, we were not moved, encouraged, none of us said that this was a code of life, a meaning of life, we should live like this. On the contrary, we destroyed, tore to shreds, cut, and abandoned everything – Sevan, rivers, forests, and children. We will not live like that; the saddest thing is that the nation that has, say, Tumanyan, Narekatsi – I can name many more people – has Hrant Matevosyan, doesn’t say to itself: ‘I should listen to what this man says.’”
According to the artist, one should attend to what the great say, in order not to be rooted out. “At the end of the day, Hrant came to this world to find a niche for Armenians, a niche for the nation in this world using his genius, to strengthen our culture, he came to establish morality; he went into depths, broke and revealed pearls for the nation, generously spread those pearls in abundance. Sometimes I think that if we cannot follow such people, if we cannot appreciate them, we shouldn’t give birth to them…. Why, there is no nation without culture, and what Hrant has created is high culture and literature, the highest; he is a guy who can be compared with Faulkner and other great writers. In a nutshell, our biggest misfortune, flaw, and mistake is that we don’t appreciate those people, and appreciation is not only saying that Hrant is a genius – well, he is – but also at least following, remembering what he said. Hrant has a play called ‘Neutral Zone’ – I had the pleasure to play a part in it – he wrote something there, which I always repeat, ‘We have maintained a handful of blood in
this century, we have secured it against the Seljuks, the Mongols, the Turks, and the Kurds, shall we waste it now?’ We really are wasting it now; who remembers these words…? Shall we stop caring about our nation, our treasures? There is no trout in Sevan; I don’t care. They cut trees, cut branches; I don’t care…. What should I say to Hrant now, what answer should I give?”
Read the interview with the master on other subjects in the upcoming issues of Aravot Daily.
Gohar HAKOBYAN
