Literary critic speaks of Hovhannes Tumanyan’s great talent

In an interview with Tert.am, literary critic David Gasparyan spoke of the “poet of all Armenians” Hovhannes Tumanyan, his life and legacy.

Today, February 19, marks the great poet’s 145^th birthday anniversary.

Tumanyan’s glory has been appreciated since his lifetime, and he is considered the greatest national talent.

“Tumanyan is highly respected for his national way of thinking and national elements. He comes from depths of the Armenian people’s history, folklore, language. He was able to reproduce that all as a son of the Armenian land. In reading Tumanyan, an Armenian has a feeling of intimacy, and never a feeling of estrangement. This is the reason why the Armenian people have for many years been educated by means of Tumanyan’s works,” Gasparyan said.

Both children and old people read Tumanyan.

“Tumanyan is famous not only for his poems and poetry, but also for his articles, which deal with problems of national genealogy and culture. Tumanyan can be discovered due to his articles as well,” Gasparyan said.

Hovhannes Tumanyan is one of the best-studied Armenian writers, and literary critic Edward Jrbashyan has greatly contributed to it.

“A 10-volume set of Hovhannes Tumanyan’s works was released. Overall, 70,000 copies of the first volumes were released. But time has changed, and only 500 copies of the last volumes were released,” Gasparyan said.