PRESS RELEASE
The Armenian Center at Columbia University
P.O.Box 4042,
Grand Central Station,
New York, NY 10163-4042

Contact: Aram Arkun
E-mail: arkuna@earthlink.net
October 20, 2008

Discussion of Armenian Epic Daredevils of Sasun with Professors Yeghiazaryan
of Yerevan, Cowe of UCLA, Bournoutian of Iona Oct. 23 at Columbia U., NYC

The Armenian epic Daredevils of Sasun is one of the
important monuments of Armenian culture.
Azat Yeghiazaryan, the well respected author of an interpretative
volume on the epic, will speak at Columbia
University on the evening of October 23, accompanied by translator
Peter Cowe of UCLA, and George
Bournoutian of Mazda Press. This English-language event is sponsored
by the Armenian Center at Columbia University
together with the Columbia University Armenian Students Association.

Passed down by word of mouth through the magic of live performance
art for a millennium and a half till its first
scholarly transcriptions in the late 19th century, the Armenian epic
"Daredevils of Sasun" presents a rich legacy
of accumulated folk wisdom and creative insight on the human
condition. Evolving from ancient mythic roots
through folkloric antecedents up to its main period of gestation
(A.D. 8th-12th centuries), it tells the tale of the
life, loves, and heroic struggles of four generations of the House of
Sasun to establish their patrimony and
uphold the weal of their community against the onslaught of
imperialist invaders.

Professor Yeghiazaryan has authored an excellent introduction to the
epic and all related issues. He has succeeded
in providing a clear summation of research on the epic in an
accessible manner, as well as exploring some perspectives.
In particular he has benefited from the use of Russian scholarship to
illuminate aspects of plot, characterization, and
symbolism. In his talk at Columbia, he will present the originality
of the Armenian epic, look at its connection to the
most ancient Armenian pagan epics as well as its medieval Christian
roots, and show its relationship to other world epics.

Yeghiazarian has just retired as director of the Manuk Abeghyan
Institute of Literature of the National Academy of Sciences
of Armenia. He is the author of over 150 publications, including
monographs such as "Literary Narrative: A Theoretical Review"
(1986) and "Tumanyan’s Poetics and its Popular Roots" (1990), and
various textbooks. He has organized two international
conferences on the Armenian epic tradition and edited their collected
papers. Yeghiazarian is founder-editor of the institute’s
official journal "Handes." He has been a visiting professor in
several American universities.

Dr. S. Peter Cowe, translator of Yeghiazaryan’s work and author of
its introduction, will speak about the epic and Yeghiazaryan’s
work. Cowe is Narekatsi Professor of Armenian Studies in the
Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, UCLA.
Previously at Columbia University, Cowe also has taught at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem. Author of five Armenological
books and editor of seven, he is now completing an investigation of
the Armenian Republic’s post-Soviet publishing industry.
Past co-editor of the Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies,
Cowe has received several NEH fellowships, as well as the s
2007 Garbis Papazaian award in Armenology.

Dr. George Bournoutian is the editor of the Mazda Press Armenian
series in which this volume appears. He will speak about
the place of this volume in the ever-growing successful Mazda series.
Bournoutian is Senior Professor of History at Iona College.
He is the author of numerous books on Armenian history and has taught
Armenian history at Columbia University, Tufts University,
New York University, Rutgers University, the University of
Connecticut, Ramapo College, and Glendale Community College.

The Thursday evening event will begin at 7:30 p.m. on the Columbia
campus, in room 203 of the Mathematics Building (enter
Columbia from 116th Street and Broadway, proceed north, up the left
side of the Low Library stairs–past the large water fountains.
Mathematics Building is on the left past Low Library–see map
< thematics.html)> olumbia/map/mathematics.html).

Admission is free, and refreshments will be served. For additional
information, please email <mailto:arkuna@earthlink.net>arkuna@earthlin k.net.