Armenian Books

The Dolores Zohrab Liebman Foundation, the Clark Fund of Harvard University and the Armenian General Benevolent Union are to be congratulated on their endeavour to honour a rare and erudite scholar, James Robert Russell (Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA)by funding a venture to publish a book titled "Armenian and Iranian Studies" which is a collection of 91 articles published by Professor James R. Russell in disparate journals and volumes since 1980. Few scholars in the prime of their career are honoured with a compilation of their past publications, and this voluminous tome (xxix, 1462 pages) brings together publications from rare and not easily accessible/available journals and festschrifts and conference proceedings. Also the field of Armenian and Iranian studies and especially Armeno-Iranica studies have attracted few scholars and so this collection of articles has an even greater academic value, making it almost one of a kind tome.
Professor Russells' areas of academic interests have, and continue to be Armenica, concentrating on the sources and religious materials of heroic epics and folk-lore-material ancillary to the "official" Christian clerical culture, and in the Iranian area his work encompasses studies in Irano-Judaica and the religious culture of the 'Parsi Zoroastrians' of India. The majority of articles in this compilation deal with Armeno-Iranica. They continue and serve to supplement studies, he had previously published in his magnum opus "Zoroastrians in Armenia" (Harvard Iranian Series, Cambridge, MA, 1987) where he emphasizes that the pre-Christian religion of the majority of the Armenians, was (despite special local features), the Zarathushtrian faith of the Parthian Arsacids.
Zarathushtrians and Parsis the world over, may find at a minimum of 52 articles of religious and cultural values of importance to them in this compilation. I urge them to read them with undivided attention. They are unique and thought provoking, even if one does not agree with Prof. Russell all the time.
I wish Prof. Russell a long and productive career in Armeno-Iraniaca at Harvard University as I read year after year his scholarly publications in various Armenian jounals, notably Revue des Etudes Armeniennes.
A book every Zarathushtrian oragnization, society, library and academics must have on their shelves.

Review by Bronwyn Williams Ellis

The Armenian Ceramics of Jerusalem is exclusively focussed on and carries the flag for this group or school of Armenian ceramists whose work the author feels should be seen as an entity. She describes the social, artistic, practical adaptations and survival of the group chronologically: its leaving the ceramic centre of Kutahya in Turkish Anatolia in 1919 (at the 'Arts and Crafts ' inspired request of the British Mandatory government in Jerusalem) and arrival in Jerusalem where there was no current tradition of tile making, to work on a project to restore the Dome of the Rock (later cancelled) and on to the present through the work of its leading artists and their workshops.

The work of David Ohannessian, Megerdish Karakashian and Neshan Balian, Stephen Karakashian and Marie Balian is covered in individual chapters discussing specific commissions along with the roots of their iconography. They adapt Iznik and Kutahya designs combined with Armenian, Mameluke, Byzantine, Moslem and Jewish imagery, to produce work which is seen today as typical of Jerusalem and bought by all its three monotheistic religions; a process that modern politicians could possibly learn from.

The individual pieces of work, which are described in considerable detail and illustrated, are predominately tiles and tile panels, including fountains, wall panels and tombstones, with some vessels and plates. The pieces are largely discussed from the point of view of their imagery, their sources, symbolism and their variations within this small group of artists. This is clearly not a book for those interested in the practical side of ceramics, there being no mention made of the physical aspect of ceramics apart from a very brief early mention of problems of dealing with new materials in a new land. Given the author's interest in the chronological changes in style and image it is a pity that no connection is made between this and the impact changes in materials, processes, or firing temperatures can and do have on the finished work. This is particularly evident with the advent of highly refined modern materials, ready-made colours, glazes etc. and can be clearly seen in the illustrations used.

The ceramics themselves are discussed from a design point of view and the author would understandably like them to be seen from their position of continuity within an older Eastern tradition and not in terms of Western culture and its craving for originality, even though much that is produced is now being sold to and even made in the West. She does point out that change is evident from the initial move to Jerusalem. Despite the recent influences, deep roots in the vernacular tradition of Kuthaya can still be clearly seen, directly through composition, but also in the static, heavily outlined style of execution (the related Iznik style being much more fluid and fluent as well as less figurative, reflecting Muslim iconography more closely). The early pieces have a softer appearance characteristic of the use of traditional local unrefined materials and this gradually changes and hardens as the present is approached.

Mention is made of the importance of pioneering a photographic record of Armenian ceramics. In this the book is successful, using a combination of original black and white images of the main protagonists and studios with a large number of excellent modern colour photographs of the different studios' production (about 140 pieces, some of tile panels in their architectural settings, plus rather too few of sources).These are set out, again chronologically, in close relationship to pertinent text. This combined with good layout, graphics, quality of materials and printing makes the book a pleasure to look at.

The Armenian Ceramics of Jerusalem helps fills a gap in the publications on tile making history. It is written from an academic point of view with a particularity and clarity of details. Although at times somewhat repetitive, it has carefully attributed sources and contexts. Each chapter ends with crisp footnotes and a useful bibliography - excellent - but then to be a book of reference an index would be helpful. In English translation (from Hebrew) the language generally has a clarity and fluidity that recommends itself to the general reader and, owing to its excellent illustrations, particularly to those interested in the history of surface design on tiles and vessels in the Middle East.

However this may miss its primary significance, as a documentation of one aspect of the historical Armenian contribution to the arts of the Middle East; something which, for political reasons, is often hard to find. It would have been interesting to be given a broader view; to see the work in Jerusalem in relationship to other pertinent ceramic traditions, local or imported, and also to read more about the earlier roots of Armenian ceramics in the Ottoman empire; the tiles and other work produced both for the Armenian church and the Ottoman ruling class. But then that would have been another book.

For basic home-type Armenian cooking, they don't come better than this. Simple easy to understand instructions. Like having my mother standing at my elbow.

I open this book to read of how a lawfull citizen become victim, just because he was a christian armenian, in Smyra during 1922, his stragle to protect and survive his family through the madness and hell. Instead when I finished the book I had become enriched with the wonderfull feeling of keeping the faith for life, and a full apreciation for all the little things we do in our everyday life. And gave me the opportunity to understand deeper of one of the darkest moments of humanity in our time, such as the 1922 Smyra disaster.

I am always intrigued with true stories, and I certainly found this book one of extreme interest in the importance of a close family life. The author stresses God-given values in each chapter. Can most definitely be used to talk about very important moral issues that should be in family life.

I was sorry to end the book, as I enjoyed every word of it. I have recommended this book to many people already. Great reading!!

Professor Hovannisian pulls together powerful essays and presentations on the cultural and ethical legacies of the Armenian Genocide, a persecution of ethnically Armenian people living in the then Ottoman Empire over a period of three decades starting in 1894. The Ottoman Empire, ruled by a Turkish dynasty and administration, sought to halt its rapid decline of fortunes by trying to focus on the purity of its own Turkish ethnicity at the expense of its "minorities." The memory of the Armenians living today testifies that this "divorce" was horribly traumatic and shows no sign of closure, mostly due to the fact that the modern nation of Turkey debates the facts of this Genocide. The essays explore how this memory has persisted in a multitude of forms, being transmitted generationally. The book will likely be a monument to the human experience of collectively trying to understand a traumatic event.

This art book shows brilliant medieval Gospel manuscript illuminations by renown Armenian painters. The quality of the art is world class and the quality of the reproductions is excellent.

Aside giving effective historical information, the sample of literature in the book is very different and intriguing! I liked reading this book very much.

This is a fascinating look at an obscure world that is often hidden from outsiders. Filled with beautiful illustrations, this guide is surprisingly easy to read, and offers comprehensive information for scholars and dilettantes alike. Don't let the price deter you! The money goes to a great cause, and this is a book you will treasure for years to come.

This book is best described by "Trial Impressions," a 30-part poem which dominates the middle of the book. The first part of the poem reprints, verbatim, a short piece by the English poet John Dowland. The rest of the poems in the sequence rewrite this poem, each in a different way: as sestina, as Mallarmean sonnet, as contemporary plea ("Up to Date"), as an Oulipo "N+7" exercise (using two different dictionaries), as a detective riddle, as a palindrome, as Chinese imagism ("The Wang Way."), etc. The closest precedent to this amazing poem is Raymond Queneau's "Exercises in Style," another Oulipean tour de force. The poem is funny, touching, and maddening. There are other great works in the book, including the title piece (a very interesting faux "translation" of a nonexsistent prose precedent). And there is also "Histoire," perhaps the funniest sestina in the English language. This is a seduction narrative in which the repeated end-words are "Feminism," "Fascism," "Militarism," Marxism-Leninism," "Sexism," and "Racism." It's amazing to read this sestina and watch such words get drained of their meaning yet strangely re-energized.