ROBINSON BY ARAM PACHYAN

Short stories / Grakan Etalon 2011 / Antares, 2012 / Edge 2019 / 160 pages

The style of the author can undoubtedly be considered as a unique pattern in contemporary Armenian literature. The mixture of the real and imaginary worlds makes his stories rather different from the writing manner of other Armenian authors. The stories are like small and clear paintings of various characters. The faces in these paintings are so familiar, like someone you know, or someone hiding very deep inside of you. Inescapable loneliness of people in the modern world is the main topic of all the stories by Pachyan. The story named “Birds” is about soldiers who put on wings and fly out of windows and over high walls. They are like birds that have stopped at a temporary post on their way to warmer countries. They will soon leave this place forever, but for the duration of their stay, they have to follow outrageous rules that presently exist or break them to defend their honor. In “Sad Boats” the author converses with a dead young man who has been killed in mass political protests. Through this tragic story, the author elegantly conveys the injustice of a young life lost. The sound of the fallen young man’s phone, continuously ringing in his pocket can still be heard long after you have closed the book. “Transparent bottles” is a story of a son, who has so many different emotions towards his drinking father. With feelings of love and hate and in the midst of bitter argument, a conflicted son fights to help his father survive. His characters represent the typology of young men who are intellectual, independent, free from political and religious pressure, and who have adopted solely the righteous laws of humanity.

RIGHTS SOLD

Stary Lev, Ukraine
Glagoslav publications (world English rights), UK 
Ombra GVG, Albania

Reviews

The Armenian Mirror-Spectator (for English translation)

A Critical Exclusive Aram Pachyan: From Armenia, with Love and Despair, by Christopher Atamian

“The reader closes the book and thanks God for his own good fortune. Somewhere in Armenia a little Aram, now grown up, writes wonderfully sorrowful books and one hopes, no longer suffers quite so much.”

Читай (for Ukrainian translation)

Арам Пачян “Робінзон” 

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