Death of Garnik Stepanian (July 1, 1989)

One of the best specialists of Western Armenian culture in Soviet Armenia, Garnik (Der) Stepanian was born on February 14, 1909, in the village of Mamakhatoun, district of Derjan, in the area of Erzinga. In May 1915 most Armenians of Derjan were killed during the genocide; many were forcibly converted to Islam, and the remainders were deported towards Der-Zor. Young Garnik managed to survive and, after the war, he reached Sepastia, where he received elementary education. In 1923 he was moved to Greece together with many Armenian orphans, where he found shelter in the orphanages of Edipsos, Khalkis, and Oropos. Two years later, he found his way to Egypt and worked for the next five years as a typesetter in the daily Arev and the printing house Voskedar.

Stepanian’s life would make a turn in 1930 when he immigrated to Soviet Armenia and found his lost parents there. He continued working as a typesetter, this time at the first printing shop of the State Publishing House. In 1938 he graduated from the Faculty of Philology of Yerevan State University. Meanwhile, he taught Armenian language and literature at the Alexander Tamanian technical school (1937-1939), and Classical Armenian at the Faculty of Philology from 1939-1940. He was a student of famous linguist Hrachia Adjarian, about whom he would write an intriguing memoir (1976).

He wore several hats in the editorial world: he worked at the daily Sovetakan Hayastan, the monthly Sovetakan Hayastan (published for the Armenians of the Diaspora), and the monthly Teghekagir, the social studies publication of the Academy of Sciences of Armenia. In 1943 he became a member of the Writers Union of Armenia and two years later, he published the first novel about the Armenian Genocide in Soviet Armenia, Nightmarish Days (1945), based on his own experience, which was reprinted three times.

Garnik Stepanian worked at the Institute of Literature of the Academy, directed the Museum of Literature and Art from 1954-1963, and was a researcher at the Institute of Art of the Academy from 1963 until his death. He became a prolific and well-regarded name as a historian of Armenian culture, specializing in the fields of Western Armenian literature and theater. He authored monographs about several famous actors in the history of Western Armenian theater, like Bedros Atamian, Arusiag Papazian, Megerdich Djanan, and Siranush, a volume of correspondence by Atamian, and a memoir about another famous actor, Vahram Papazian. His most important contribution to the field was the seminal three-volume monograph, Outline of the History of Western Armenian Theater (1962, 1969, 1975). He would also delve into the theater of the Diaspora, with a series entitled Essays on the History of Diasporan Armenian Theater, of which he managed to write two volumes on French-Armenian (1982) and Armenian-American theater (posthumously published, 2008).

Stepanian not only published monographs on two famous Western Armenian writers, Arpiar Arpiarian (1955) and Hagop Baronian (1956, 1964), but he also translated from Turkish into Armenian the first Turkish novel, Hovsep Vartanian’s Akaby (1953, originally published in 1851), and several works by Baronian.

Another important contribution by Stepanian to the field of Armenian Studies was his three-volume Biographical Dictionary (1973, 1981, 1990), which unfortunately remained unfinished .

In 1967 he earned the title of Emeritus Art Worker of Armenia and four years later he defended his second doctoral thesis in the field of art. In 1980 he was a co-winner of the State Prize of Armenia for the five-volume collective work, History of Modern Armenian Literature.

Stepanian passed away on July 1, 1989, in Yerevan. Among his posthumous works is an especially remarkable 600-page monograph on the history of his birthplace, Erzinga (2005).

Death of Bedros Atamian (June 4, 1891)

Bedros Atamian was the greatest tragic actor in the Armenian theater during the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

Born on December 21, 1849, in Constantinople, he belonged to a lower middle class Armenian Catholic family. His mother died when Bedros was one year old. In 1857-1858 he went to the elementary school of the St. Salvador Armenian Catholic Church in the neighborhood of Galata. He was a precocious and voracious reader. After graduating from the school, they placed him as an apprentice, but his heart was not in learning a trade. He found his vocation in theater.

After playing a silent role in 1864, he debuted in the play William the Conqueror two years later. Between 1867 and 1869 he played in various theatrical groups of the city. As most of his contemporaries, he was a self-taught actor, but he studied the theoretical approaches of European theater to improve himself over time. In 1869 he went with a theatrical group to Nor Nakhichevan (Nakhichevan-on-the-Don), in Northern Caucasus, but the venture ended in financial failure. During his absence, the great fire of Constantinople, in 1870, had ravaged the area of Pera (nowadays Beyoglu) and destroyed his father’s properties, who was ruined and died shortly thereafter.

Atamian continued his theatrical career, and also dabbled as a painter to make his daily living. The newly built theater of Ortakeuy housed a brilliant theatrical group from 1872-1875, under the direction of Bedros Maghakian, with Atamian and the famous actress Azniv Hrachia as its main stars.

1879 would be a breakthrough year for the talented actor. Actor Gevorg Chemeshkian went from Tiflis to Constantinople, commissioned by the Armenian Theatrical Board of the city, to hire several actors. He came to an agreement with Atamian and two promising sisters, Siranush, who would become one of the most famous actresses of the Armenian scene, and Asdghik. For the next three years, he would win over the Armenian audiences of Tiflis. The newspaper Meghu Hayastani wrote: “He rules over the play and, like a bright lighthouse, he illuminates the stage.” The Georgian and Russian newspapers would also devote columns to him. Following the suggestions of the press and his friends, he left aside the customary melodramas and historical plays, and incorporated new and fresh works. The centerpiece would be Shakespeare, who had been played only since 1866. Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear would be the three Shakespearean roles in Atamian’s 250-strong repertoire. He later performed in many other cities, like Shushi, Rostov-on-the-Don, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Astrakhan, Baku, Odessa, et cetera, not only with Armenian, but non-Armenian groups. For instance, in 1882 he performed Hamlet with a French group in Rostov; the performance was in French, with Atamian playing Hamlet in Armenian. His performances as Hamlet and Othello would be highly praised everywhere by the audiences and the press, both Armenian and Russian, and they immortalized his name.

Atamian was not only an actor, but also a theater scholar. In 1887 he published a study in Armenian, Shakespeare and the Sources and Criticism of his Tragedy Hamlet, which was the first of its kind. He also wrote poetry and a novel (posthumously published), although without great literary value.

In mid-1888 he returned to his hometown, Constantinople, and the twenty-fifth anniversary of his theatrical career was celebrated on December 30, 1888. His last performance was a year later. In the meanwhile, he had taken a devastating turn in his life: he developed a condition in his throat that was attributed either to tuberculosis or to cancer. He was unable to work anymore, and fell into utter poverty. Thanks to the efforts of Russian friends from St. Petersburg, he was moved to the St. Nicholas Russian hospital of Pera in February 1891. However, medical assistance was not enough to save his life and he passed away on June 4, 1891. The great Shakespearean actor was buried in the Armenian cemetery of Sisli.

Atamian’s name was later given to the Armenian theater of Tiflis, as well as to the theater group of the Armenian General Benevolent Union in Aleppo. Today, a street in Yerevan also bears his name.