I am a new, and quite slow, learner of the Western Armenian language, but one of the dreams that motivates me is that when I manage to learn it, I will be able to read Zaven Biberyan in his original Armenian! In this short piece here I would like to talk about Biberyan’s Meteliksiz Aşıklar which I read in Turkish, and which was published by Aras Publishing House.
Zaven Biberyan has recently started to gain a reputation as one of modern Armenian literature’s best novelists. In addition to his novelistic talent, Biberyan was also a great narrator and indeed chronicler of Armenians’ tragic past, while his character-centred focus produced deep descriptions of the emotions aroused by a continued witnessing of ongoing political disasters. Sadly, Zaven Biberyan was long neglected as a novelist, sharing the fate of many other great writers, enjoying fame only after death. As we learn from his biography and from the preface by Marc Nichanian in the book, Zaven Biberyan lived through difficult times, as an Armenian, a left-wing journalist, and as far as we understand from his life, his unflinching, outspoken criticism of all established values in the defence of human rights.
Zaven Biberyan was born in 1921 in İstanbul and died there on 4 October 1984. He was buried in the intellectuals’ section of Şişli Armenian Cemetary. Meteliksiz Aşıklar narrates the landscape and people of İstanbul without nostalgia, being a novel that shows how people experience the life of the city, seen through the lenses both of a comparison to small-town life and the perspective of a 19th years old Armenian man. The anger, frustration and stasis of Biberyan’s characters makes the novel a difficult emotional experience. However, Biberyan never takes the reader into mere pessimism but appreciates the simplicity of happiness amid the pressures of conventional social values and the vulnerability of his own identity.
Meteliksiz Aşıklar doesn't have much of a plot beyond the complications surrounding 19-year-old Armenian Sur’s love for Norma, his older girlfriend, but its main purpose is as drawing a picture of the 1950s in Turkey and it also mentions the Varlık Vergisi (Wealth Tax) which was imposed on non-Muslim citizens in Turkey in 1942 and the 6-7 September pogrom on non-Muslim communities in Istanbul. It is a great pity that no English translation exists alongside its French, Turkish, and Armenian versions. Zaven Biberyan’s rich social tapestry seems almost to anticipate a future viewpoint. Sur’s struggle with masculine adulthood also acts as a description of life as a young Armenian in İstanbul, which criticises all of society’s moral values and sacred virtues. Those who can read him in Armenian can buy its e-book version from Aras Publishing House, but below is my translation from the Turkish:
“It was a wonderful thing to lie so carefree without looking around every minute with beating heart, without incident, without anxious expectation of constant disaster. Not being nervous. Being comfortable, having peace of mind ... Not feeling guilty, not being anxious because of a non-criminal act ... There are countries in the world where no one looks at people who hug each other, no one accosts them because they kiss, and no one attacks them when they are alone.”
We still do not know, Sur, what country might give you this, but Biberyan beautifully imagines your moment with Norma on the island. As you say to each other later, “How nice it is to know that you have a friend around and not to be afraid"...
I wish that Sur and Norma’s dream comes true for everyone who looks at the blue sky where the seagulls pass… without fear but with love and friendship…
And I wish to have Biberyan’s book translated into English and many other languages as well.
Other notable works by Biberyan include:
The Dawn of the Ants/ Mırçünneru verçaluysı/ Karıncaların Günbatımı
Lıgırdazı, Yalnızlar
e-book link: https://www.arasyayincilik.com/urun/անկուտի-սիրահարներ/
Written by Şahika Erkonan
Originally written for Zanazan Magazine Issue 2