Paruyr Sevak

Paruyr Sevak (Armenian: Պարույր Սևակ; January 24, 1924 – June 17, 1971) was an Armenian poet, translator and literary critic. He is considered one of the greatest Armenian poets of the 20th century.^[1]

Sevak was born Paruyr Ghazaryan (Armenian: Պարույր Ղազարյան) in the village of Chanakhchi (now Zangakatun), Armenian SSR, Soviet Union to Rafael and Anahit Soghomonyan on January 24, 1924.^[a][b] His ancestors had migrated to Chanakhchi, a remote, mountainous village, from the village of Havtvan in Salmast (Salmas), Iran in 1828.^[2] Young Paruyr attended the village school, where he wrote his first poems and published them in the school wall newspaper.^[3] Sevak spent part of his childhood and adolescence in a location called Navchalu yayla^[c] near his native village; in his early writings, he signed his writings with 'Navchalu' as the location where they were written.^[4] In 1939, he became a student at the philological faculty of Yerevan State University.^[5] He graduated in 1945.^[6] The same year he started his postgraduate studies in Armenian literature at the Abeghyan Institute of Literature of the Armenian SSR Academy of Sciences, which lasted until 1948.^[6] In 1951, Sevak went to Moscow to study at the Gorky Institute of World Literature.^[6] After graduation, he worked there as professor of translation in 1957-59.

In 1960 Sevak returned to Yerevan and resumed his prolific and meaningful literary, scientific and public career.^[6] He started to work at the Abeghyan Institute of Literature as a scientific researcher.^[6] From 1966-1971 Sevak served as secretary on the Board of the Writers Union of Armenia.^[6]

In 1967 Sevak became a doctor of philology after his dissertation defense.^[6] In 1968 he was elected to the Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR.^[6]

Sevak died on June 17, 1971, in a car crash while on a drive back to Yerevan.^[6] In previous years, he had voiced his criticism of the cultural policies of the Soviet government and for this, many Armenians believe, he was murdered by the Soviet government.^[7] His wife, Nelly Menagharishvili, also died in the car crash. He was buried in the backyard of his home, in Zangakatun, which later became a museum open to everyone.

Sevak's long poem Anlr’eli zangakatunë (The Incessant Bell-tower) is dedicated to Armenian composer Komitas and to the memory of the Armenian genocide.

• (1948) Anmahnerë hramayum en (Անմահները հրամայում են (The immortals command))
• (1953) Anhasht mtermut’yun (Անհաշտ մտերմություն (Irreconcilable intimacy))
• (1954) Siro chanaparh (Սիրո ճանապարհ (Path of love))
• (1969) Yeghits’i luys (Եղիցի լույս (Let there be light)
• (1971) Dzer tsanot’nerë (Ձեր ծանոթները (Your acquaintances))
• (1972–1976) Yerkeri zhoghovatsu vets’ hatorov (Երկերի ժողովածու վեց հատորով (Collected works in six volumes))
• (1982–1983) Yerker: zhoghovatsu yerek’ hatorov (Երկեր ։ ժողովածու երեք հատորով (Collected works in three volumes))

• Selected Poems. Translated with an introduction by Garig Basmadjian. Jerusalem: St. James Press, 1973.
• Paruyr Sevak's Poetry: Select Translations from Armenian. Translated by Jack Aslanian. Yerevan: VMV-Print, 2011.
• The Incessant Bell-tower. Translated by Svetlana Vardanian. Yerevan: Limush Press, 2015 (2nd revised ed.: 2017).

One of the mains streets of Yerevan's Kanaker-Zeytun district is named after Sevak.^[8] School #123 of Yerevan is named after Paruyr Sevak.^[9]

On 2018, the third series of Dram banknotes were printed, featuring Sevak on the 1000 Dram note.

• Paruyr Sevak (1984), film directed by Levon Mkrtchyan, Armenfilm

• Poems by Paruyr Sevak on Sevak.am (in Armenian)
• Audio recordings of Sevak's poems on Freebooks.do.am