The Archeology of Future Literature

Digging out Prose from Independent Armenia's History

Author(s): Gevorg Ter-Gabrielyan
Editor(s): Iris Kempe, Matthias Neumann, Robert Orttung, Jeronim Perovic, Lili Di Puppo
Series: Caucasus Analytical Digest (CAD)
Issue: 14
Pages: 2-5
Publisher(s): Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich; Jefferson Institute, Washington D.C.; Heinrich Böll Foundation, Tbilisi; Research Centre for East European Studies, University of Bremen
Publication Year: 2010

Prose writers played an important role in Armenia's early and Soviet periods, with two writers taking important political posts just as the Soviet Union collapsed. In independent Armenia, book publishing largely collapsed along with a clear set of values, though writers sometimes found outlets in newspapers, soap operas, and blogging. More recently, a number of novels and short stories have appeared which try to make sense of Armenia's post-Soviet life, including defining its identity, dealing with the consequences of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and adjusting to a form of capitalism that handed most of the available wealth to a handful of individuals, leaving the rest of the populace destitute.

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