SIMPLY VARDAN MATEVOSSIAN
By Gohar Stepanian

Yerkir/arm
August 26, 2005

“We carry Armenia in our souls as a universe, as our destiny, ”
Kostan Zarian’s words are the starting point for Vardan Matevossian’s
book “Endless Return.” On the cover page of the book you can see an
Armenian landscape. You turn the page and see the author smiling. He
is smiling and his face is Armenian … and Latin American.

The Armenianness made the third-generation Diaspora Armenian writer
overcome foreign influences while many others failed to do so and
preserved only their Armenian eyes that always look at Armenia.

Vardan Matevossian’s biography starts with the Armenian language and
everything Armenian. Spanish and English are subtly connected with
the Armenian roots which once again proves that the Armenians are
talented in learning languages.

“Matevossian was born in 1964 in Montevideo. In 1973- 2000 he lived
in Buenos Aires. In 1981 he graduated from the Khrimian Institute
and in 1991 from Buenos Aires National University.

Currently, he lives in New Jersey and works at the Hovnanian
College.” These numbers and facts come to comprise his biography as
a philologist, publicist and translator. Matevossian has devoted his
life to studying the Armenian literature and history.

He has translated 10 volumes of literature from Armenian into Spanish,
including works of Yeghishe Charents, Paruyr Sevak, Yervand Otian
and others. He has published a number of articles in various Diaspora
magazines. The presentation of his books Endless Return, The Southern
Side of the World and The Armenians in Latin America was held in the
Museum of Literature and Arts.

In his book The Armenians in Latin America Matevossian presents facts
that were not known in our country. For instance, it turns out that
the term ” Armenia” is very popular in Latin America and the author
connects this popularity to Biblical themes. Unfortunately, this book
is not available for the Armenian readers.

The Armenian readers can read his book Endless Return, a book of
memoirs covering the period of 1989-2004. Here the author tells
about his visits to Armenia, about the life and customs in Armenia,
the negative and positive aspects of Armenian reality. The book is
dynamic with stories about his friends and acquaintances.

Summing up our story about the pro-Armenian activities of our fellow
Armenian writer we should note that preservation of the Armenian roots
is very difficult for the Diaspora. In this context, any book, any
publication comes to contribute to the preservation of Armenianness
among the Diaspora Armenians.

We are no better or worse than any other nation – we are simply
Armenian. Unfortunately, we have to prove this everywhere and every
day – this is the destiny of every Armenian.