Gevorg Emin
Encyclopedia
Gevorg Emin was an Armenia
n poet
, essayist, and translator
.
. In 1927, his family left Ashtarak and moved to Yerevan
, the capital of Soviet Armenia. In 1936 he finished secondary school
; in 1940 he graduated from the local Polytechnical Institute
as a hydraulic engineer
. After graduation he designed and supervised the building of a hydroelectric
power station
which is still producing electricity
. The power station remained his only engineering accomplishment.
In school, Emin met Armenia's leading poet Yegishe Charents, who died in 1937 in a Soviet
prison. Emin recalls in his preface to For You on New Year's Day:
Emin's roots as a poet are deeply embedded in the culture and the physical landscape of the country he grew up in. To this is added his extensive reading of modern poetry, especially French symbolist poets, and his enduring faith in the power of poetry. From 1941 to 1945, Emin fought (and was wounded) in World War II
. His poetry makes no specific references to his own war experiences but often refers to the Armenian Genocide
.
Emin's poetry has been translated from Armenian
to many language
s all over the world. Poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko
read him in Russian
and immediately hailed his work. Yevtushenko wrote the Introduction to the collection of Emin's verse translated into English as For You on New Year's Day; here the Russian poet contrasted Emin to his fellow Armenian poets who emphasized emotion in their work:
Perhaps as a result of Emin's training in science, he writes in a simple, straight forward language. Edmond Y. Azadian, in the Afterword to For You on New Year's Day, suggests that Emin freed Armenian poetry "from the restrictions that followed Charents' time, the bleak Stalin
era," reinvigorating it after a long period during which experimentalism had been discouraged. Martin Robbins suggests, in Ararat Quarterly, that his poetry reflects "the tough compression of an engineer's mathematically trained mind," and cites as a representative example his poem "Small" in which he acknowledges the defenselessnes of the Armenian people but affirms their strength. In many of his poems Mount Ararat
itself serves as an emblem of the endurance of his people. In "Song of Songs" he writes: "I am an Armenian. ancient as this Biblical Ararat / my feet still wet from the waters of the flood."
For his poetry, Emin was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1951 and the USSR State Prize
in 1976. In 1972, he toured the United States
with Yevtushenko giving poetry readings. His American experience reflected in some of his later poems, published in Land, Love, Century, including Gravestone in a Negro Cemetery, First Night in New York, and In the Streets of Boston.
Emin's first wife was the daughter of the distinguished Armenian poet Vahan Terian
. After her death, he married a writer, Armenouhi Hamparian. He had three sons. Emin was a translator of note in Eastern Europe
: he is especially admired for his translations of Polish poets ranging from Adam Mickiewicz
to the contemporary poet Tadeusz Różewicz
. In Poland
's long struggle for independence and national identity, he identified some of his own feelings about Armenia and he has hailed "the proud spirit of the Polish people, their fanatical attachment to their land, language, literature, tradition."
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
n poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, essayist, and translator
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
.
Biography
Emin, the son of a school teacher, was born in the town of AshtarakAshtarak
Ashtarak is an industrial city in Armenia, on the left bank of Kasagh River along the gorge, approximately 20 km north-west of the capital Yerevan, at a height of 1110 meters above sea level. It is the administrative capital of Aragatsotn province...
. In 1927, his family left Ashtarak and moved to Yerevan
Yerevan
Yerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country...
, the capital of Soviet Armenia. In 1936 he finished secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
; in 1940 he graduated from the local Polytechnical Institute
State Engineering University of Armenia
The State Engineering University of Armenia is a technical university located in Yerevan, Armenia. Established as the Yerevan Polytechnic Institute in 1933, it provides educational and research programs in various fields of technology and science related to engineering...
as a hydraulic engineer
Hydraulic engineering
This article is about civil engineering. For the mechanical engineering discipline see Hydraulic machineryHydraulic engineering as a sub-discipline of civil engineering is concerned with the flow and conveyance of fluids, principally water and sewage. One feature of these systems is the extensive...
. After graduation he designed and supervised the building of a hydroelectric
Hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...
power station
Power station
A power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric energy....
which is still producing electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
. The power station remained his only engineering accomplishment.
In school, Emin met Armenia's leading poet Yegishe Charents, who died in 1937 in a Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
prison. Emin recalls in his preface to For You on New Year's Day:
- Today if I write instead of building canals and power plants it is due to two things: the impact of meeting Yeghishe Charents, and second, the touch of ancient manuscripts at the Matenadaran library where I worked as a student and could read and hold the magnificent old manuscripts from the fifth through the eighteenth centuries.
Emin's roots as a poet are deeply embedded in the culture and the physical landscape of the country he grew up in. To this is added his extensive reading of modern poetry, especially French symbolist poets, and his enduring faith in the power of poetry. From 1941 to 1945, Emin fought (and was wounded) in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. His poetry makes no specific references to his own war experiences but often refers to the Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
The Armenian Genocide—also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Crime—refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I...
.
Emin's poetry has been translated from Armenian
Armenian language
The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora...
to many language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
s all over the world. Poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko
Yevgeny Yevtushenko
Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Yevtushenko is a Soviet and Russian poet. He is also a novelist, essayist, dramatist, screenwriter, actor, editor, and a director of several films.-Early life:...
read him in Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
and immediately hailed his work. Yevtushenko wrote the Introduction to the collection of Emin's verse translated into English as For You on New Year's Day; here the Russian poet contrasted Emin to his fellow Armenian poets who emphasized emotion in their work:
- Gevorg Emin has an entirely opposite conception of the craft. He takes pride in revealing the rational armature of poetry and the details of its construction. Some of his poems remind us of transparent watches where the movements and direction of each gear and lever are visible. But it is a watch that keeps perfect time.
Perhaps as a result of Emin's training in science, he writes in a simple, straight forward language. Edmond Y. Azadian, in the Afterword to For You on New Year's Day, suggests that Emin freed Armenian poetry "from the restrictions that followed Charents' time, the bleak Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
era," reinvigorating it after a long period during which experimentalism had been discouraged. Martin Robbins suggests, in Ararat Quarterly, that his poetry reflects "the tough compression of an engineer's mathematically trained mind," and cites as a representative example his poem "Small" in which he acknowledges the defenselessnes of the Armenian people but affirms their strength. In many of his poems Mount Ararat
Mount Ararat
Mount Ararat is a snow-capped, dormant volcanic cone in Turkey. It has two peaks: Greater Ararat and Lesser Ararat .The Ararat massif is about in diameter...
itself serves as an emblem of the endurance of his people. In "Song of Songs" he writes: "I am an Armenian. ancient as this Biblical Ararat / my feet still wet from the waters of the flood."
For his poetry, Emin was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1951 and the USSR State Prize
USSR State Prize
The USSR State Prize was the Soviet Union's state honour. It was established on September 9, 1966. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the prize was followed up by the State Prize of the Russian Federation....
in 1976. In 1972, he toured the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with Yevtushenko giving poetry readings. His American experience reflected in some of his later poems, published in Land, Love, Century, including Gravestone in a Negro Cemetery, First Night in New York, and In the Streets of Boston.
Emin's first wife was the daughter of the distinguished Armenian poet Vahan Terian
Vahan Terian
Vahan Terian was an eminent Georgian born Armenian poet, lyrist and public activist. He is a famous poet known for his sorrowful, romantic poems, the most famous of which are still read and sung in their musical versions by people of all ages.- Biography :...
. After her death, he married a writer, Armenouhi Hamparian. He had three sons. Emin was a translator of note in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
: he is especially admired for his translations of Polish poets ranging from Adam Mickiewicz
Adam Mickiewicz
Adam Bernard Mickiewicz ) was a Polish poet, publisher and political writer of the Romantic period. One of the primary representatives of the Polish Romanticism era, a national poet of Poland, he is seen as one of Poland's Three Bards and the greatest poet in all of Polish literature...
to the contemporary poet Tadeusz Różewicz
Tadeusz Rózewicz
Tadeusz Różewicz is a Polish poet and writer.Różewicz belongs to the first generation born and educated after Poland regained its independence in 1918. His youthful poems were published in 1938...
. In Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
's long struggle for independence and national identity, he identified some of his own feelings about Armenia and he has hailed "the proud spirit of the Polish people, their fanatical attachment to their land, language, literature, tradition."