Mikael Nalbandian
Encyclopedia
Mikael Nalbandian (2 (14) November 1829 – 31 March (12 April) 1866) was an Armenia
n writer who dominated 19th century Armenian literature
, author of the Armenian national anthem
text.
area) in a family of a handicraftsman. Largely self-educated, Nalbandian initially pursued priesthood, but left it soon after, studied medicine briefly at Moscow University (1854–58) and finally succeeded in collaborating with Stepanos Nazaryan in founding of an influential periodical, Aurora Borealis (Hyusisapayl). In the years of revolutionary situation in Russia 1859–1861, Nalbandyan was one of the first of the Armenian writers to take the positions of revolutionary democracy under the influence of propaganda by Kolokol (Bell) and Sovremennik
(Contemporary) magazines. He traveled widely throughout Europe: Warsaw
, Berlin
, Paris
, London
and Constantinople
, as well as to India
. In Constantinople, Nalbandyan created a secret revolutionary society named Party of the Young around an Armenian magazine Meghu (Bee). In London, he became close friends with Alexander Herzen
, N.P. Ogarev
, and M.A. Bakunin
, as well as with N.A. Serno-Solovyevich and others, participated in discussing the project of an appeal article What the People Need (a program of the soon-to-be Land and Freedom organization). In a pamphlet Two Lines (1861), announced his political credo - to dedicate his life to the idea of people's liberation. In his main journalistic work Agriculture as the Right Way (1862), Nalbandyan criticized harshly the peasantry reform of 1861, even though he did it from the positions of community socialism. He saw a peasant revolution as the only solution for post-reform Russia. Upon return to Russia, his passionate activities led to his arrest and imprisonment in St. Petersburg in July 1862. He was impirosned in the Alexeyevsky ravelin of Petropavlovskaya fortress. Having been accused of inciting anti-government sentiments with the distribution of propagandist literature, he was eventually exiled (in 1865) to Kamyshin
, a remote area over 500 miles southeast of Moscow
on the west bank of the Volga in the province of Saratov
. He died of tuberculosis
in prison a year later. It was forbidden in Russia to possess a picture of Nalbandian; but portraits of him, with his poem, "Liberty," printed in the margins, were circulated secretly.
materialism of Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach
and Nikolai Chernyshevsky
and tireless propagator of natural sciences. Nalbandian's philosophy is an important state in the history of Armenian social thought. In his practical revolutionary activities, he tried to tie democratic powers of the Armenian people with the Russian liberation movement. Nalbandian is also the initiator of critical realism in Armenian literature. Nalbandian was greatly admired for his efforts in the movement towards creating a national literature that would realistically reflect the aspirations of the Armenian people.
In A Reference Guide to Modern Armenian Literature, Professor of Armenian language and literature at the University of Michigan
Kevork B. Bardarkjian writes, "Nalbandian attracted attention as an outspoken publicist... whose lively and bold style, at times crude and arrogant, was almost invariably laced with irony ... In both his literary and journalistic pieces, Nalbandian emerges as an unrelenting champion of freedom and equality; a fearless opponent of despotism
, imperialism
, and serfdom
; an interpreter of human life from materialistic positions; a tireless propagandist of enlightenment, science; and scientific approach; a believer in agriculture as the key to prosperity and independence;..." History has labeled him a Revolutionary Democrat. His poem, "Song of the Italian Girl" brought him lasting fame. It is believed, according to Bardakjian's sources, that it was borrowed and with some changes in wording was adopted as the current national anthem of Armenia (Mer Hayrenik
).
Much like Khachatur Abovian
, Nalbandian struggled for the introduction of the new Armenian literary language Ashkharabar instead of the dead bookish language Grabar, for which he was ostracized by clerics and reactionaries. Translated poems of Alexander Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov
, Heinrich Heine
, and other poets.
Nalbandian is buried in the Holy Cross Armenian Monastery (Sourp Khatch) in Nor Nakhichevan where he was born.
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
n writer who dominated 19th century Armenian literature
Armenian literature
-Early literature:Armenian literature begins about 406 with the invention of the Armenian alphabet by Mesrop.Isaac, the Catholicos of Armenia, formed a school of translators who were sent to Edessa, Athens, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Caesarea in Cappadocia, and elsewhere, to procure...
, author of the Armenian national anthem
Mer Hayrenik
Mer Hayrenik is the national anthem of the Republic of Armenia. Adopted on July 1, 1991, it was also the national anthem of the Democratic Republic of Armenia , the first modern Armenian state....
text.
Biography
Born in New Nakhichevan (now Rostov-on-DonRostov-on-Don
-History:The mouth of the Don River has been of great commercial and cultural importance since the ancient times. It was the site of the Greek colony Tanais, of the Genoese fort Tana, and of the Turkish fortress Azak...
area) in a family of a handicraftsman. Largely self-educated, Nalbandian initially pursued priesthood, but left it soon after, studied medicine briefly at Moscow University (1854–58) and finally succeeded in collaborating with Stepanos Nazaryan in founding of an influential periodical, Aurora Borealis (Hyusisapayl). In the years of revolutionary situation in Russia 1859–1861, Nalbandyan was one of the first of the Armenian writers to take the positions of revolutionary democracy under the influence of propaganda by Kolokol (Bell) and Sovremennik
Sovremennik
Sovremennik was a Russian literary, social and political magazine, published in St. Petersburg in 1836-1866. It came out four times a year in 1836-1843 and once a month after that...
(Contemporary) magazines. He traveled widely throughout Europe: Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
, as well as to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. In Constantinople, Nalbandyan created a secret revolutionary society named Party of the Young around an Armenian magazine Meghu (Bee). In London, he became close friends with Alexander Herzen
Alexander Herzen
Aleksandr Ivanovich Herzen was a Russian pro-Western writer and thinker known as the "father of Russian socialism", and one of the main fathers of agrarian populism...
, N.P. Ogarev
Nikolay Ogarev
Nikolay Platonovich Ogarev , was a Russian poet, historian and political activist. He was deeply critical of the limitations of the Emancipation of the Serfs claiming that the serfs were not free but had simply exchanged one form of serfdom for another.Ogarev was a fellow-exile and collaborator of...
, and M.A. Bakunin
Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin was a well-known Russian revolutionary and theorist of collectivist anarchism. He has also often been called the father of anarchist theory in general. Bakunin grew up near Moscow, where he moved to study philosophy and began to read the French Encyclopedists,...
, as well as with N.A. Serno-Solovyevich and others, participated in discussing the project of an appeal article What the People Need (a program of the soon-to-be Land and Freedom organization). In a pamphlet Two Lines (1861), announced his political credo - to dedicate his life to the idea of people's liberation. In his main journalistic work Agriculture as the Right Way (1862), Nalbandyan criticized harshly the peasantry reform of 1861, even though he did it from the positions of community socialism. He saw a peasant revolution as the only solution for post-reform Russia. Upon return to Russia, his passionate activities led to his arrest and imprisonment in St. Petersburg in July 1862. He was impirosned in the Alexeyevsky ravelin of Petropavlovskaya fortress. Having been accused of inciting anti-government sentiments with the distribution of propagandist literature, he was eventually exiled (in 1865) to Kamyshin
Kamyshin
Kamyshin is a city in Volgograd Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Volgograd Reservoir of the Volga River, in the estuary of the Kamyshinka River. Population: 101,000 ; 24,000 ....
, a remote area over 500 miles southeast of Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
on the west bank of the Volga in the province of Saratov
Saratov
-Modern Saratov:The Saratov region is highly industrialized, due in part to the rich in natural and industrial resources of the area. The region is also one of the more important and largest cultural and scientific centres in Russia...
. He died of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
in prison a year later. It was forbidden in Russia to possess a picture of Nalbandian; but portraits of him, with his poem, "Liberty," printed in the margins, were circulated secretly.
Legacy
Reform and renewal are the pinnacles of Nalbandian's literary legacy. His writing was influenced by the leading journalists that he encountered throughout his extensive travels. Nalbandian dealt with the issues of philosophy, economics, linguistics, and pedagogy. Was a follower of anthropologicAnthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
materialism of Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach
Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach
Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach was a German philosopher and anthropologist. He was the fourth son of the eminent jurist Paul Johann Anselm Ritter von Feuerbach, brother of mathematician Karl Wilhelm Feuerbach and uncle of painter Anselm Feuerbach...
and Nikolai Chernyshevsky
Nikolai Chernyshevsky
Nikolay Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky was a Russian revolutionary democrat, materialist philosopher, critic, and socialist...
and tireless propagator of natural sciences. Nalbandian's philosophy is an important state in the history of Armenian social thought. In his practical revolutionary activities, he tried to tie democratic powers of the Armenian people with the Russian liberation movement. Nalbandian is also the initiator of critical realism in Armenian literature. Nalbandian was greatly admired for his efforts in the movement towards creating a national literature that would realistically reflect the aspirations of the Armenian people.
In A Reference Guide to Modern Armenian Literature, Professor of Armenian language and literature at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
Kevork B. Bardarkjian writes, "Nalbandian attracted attention as an outspoken publicist... whose lively and bold style, at times crude and arrogant, was almost invariably laced with irony ... In both his literary and journalistic pieces, Nalbandian emerges as an unrelenting champion of freedom and equality; a fearless opponent of despotism
Despotism
Despotism is a form of government in which a single entity rules with absolute power. That entity may be an individual, as in an autocracy, or it may be a group, as in an oligarchy...
, imperialism
Imperialism
Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
, and serfdom
Serfdom
Serfdom is the status of peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to Manorialism. It was a condition of bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe and lasted to the mid-19th century...
; an interpreter of human life from materialistic positions; a tireless propagandist of enlightenment, science; and scientific approach; a believer in agriculture as the key to prosperity and independence;..." History has labeled him a Revolutionary Democrat. His poem, "Song of the Italian Girl" brought him lasting fame. It is believed, according to Bardakjian's sources, that it was borrowed and with some changes in wording was adopted as the current national anthem of Armenia (Mer Hayrenik
Mer Hayrenik
Mer Hayrenik is the national anthem of the Republic of Armenia. Adopted on July 1, 1991, it was also the national anthem of the Democratic Republic of Armenia , the first modern Armenian state....
).
Much like Khachatur Abovian
Khachatur Abovian
Khachatur Abovian ; ) was an Armenian writer and national public figure of the early 19th century who mysteriously vanished in 1848 and was presumed dead. He was an educator, poet and an advocate of modernization...
, Nalbandian struggled for the introduction of the new Armenian literary language Ashkharabar instead of the dead bookish language Grabar, for which he was ostracized by clerics and reactionaries. Translated poems of Alexander Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov
Mikhail Lermontov
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov , a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucasus", became the most important Russian poet after Alexander Pushkin's death in 1837. Lermontov is considered the supreme poet of Russian literature alongside Pushkin and the greatest...
, Heinrich Heine
Heinrich Heine
Christian Johann Heinrich Heine was one of the most significant German poets of the 19th century. He was also a journalist, essayist, and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of Lieder by composers such as Robert Schumann...
, and other poets.
Nalbandian is buried in the Holy Cross Armenian Monastery (Sourp Khatch) in Nor Nakhichevan where he was born.