Vahan Totovents

Vahan Hovhannesi Totovents (Armenian: Վահան Թոթովենց; September 1, 1889 - July 18, 1938)^[1] was an Armenian writer, poet and public activist.

Biography[]

Totovents lived in this house in Yerevan in 1934-1936

Vahan Totovents was born on July 17, 1893 in the town of Mezre, province of Kharberd. He lived around Armenia and Istanbul, and studied at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. During World War I, he served as a secretary to Andranik Ozanian.

He repatriated to Soviet Armenia after 1922. In 1938, Totovents was killed as a result of the Great Purge.^[2]

Works[]

The works of Totovents were published from 1907. He is the author of Doctor Burbonian (1918), Death battalion (1923), New York (1927), Baku (v. 1-3, 1930–34), Jonathan, Son of Jeremiah novels, stories and dramas. He influenced to Armenian literature especially by his Life on the Old Roman Road autobiographical novel (1930, A piece of sky^[3] film by Henrik Malian) which "reflect the society, culture, and mores not only of the Armenians of his childhood but also of their neighbors in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire".^[4]

His works were translated into Russian, English, French, Bulgarian and Turkish.

Books[]

In English[]

• Scenes from an Armenian Childhood, 1962, NY: Oxford University Press, 182 p.,
• Tell Me, Bella (a Selection of Stories), 1972, 127 p., ISBN 0-903039-06-0,
• Jonathan, Son of Jeremiah (Mashtots paperbacks), 1985, 68 p., ISBN 0-903039-16-8,
• Pigeon Fancier, 1994, 66 p., ISBN 0-903039-18-4.

In French[]

• Une enfance arménienne, Julliard, 1985, 194 p., ISBN 2-260-00401-6.

External links[]

• Vahan Totovents (1893-1938) Présentation de ses mémoires sur le Général Antranik (in French)
• Totovents at Amazon.com

References[]