Кургинян Шушаник

Kurghinian Shushanik

Кургинян Шушаник

Shushanik Kurghinian

Armenia's Pioneer Feminist Poet

A revolutionary woman, Shushanik Kurghinian lived through utmost poverty, rejection and isolation. She traveled throughout Russia and wrote extensively about the Proletariat and women's emancipation.

Kurghinian was the first woman, who dared to write in this "non-feminine" genre - verse, thus becoming the first feminist poet in the history of Armenian literature.

Shushanik (Popoljian) Kurghinian was born on August 18, 1876, in Alexandrapol, in the Yerevan province of Eastern Armenia, into the poor family of Popolji Harout. In her autobiography Shushanik writes of her childhood: "Sometimes father would bring his [shoe-repair] 'workstation' home, in order to save money, and I would work for him - demanding my wages, every single kopek. My mother, having been raised in a traditional household, would reprove my 'ill behavior toward my parent,'and blamed those harmful books for corrupting me."

In 1893 this outspoken young woman became a member of the Armenian Social-Democratic Hnchakian Party. During the fall of the same year, she joined a group of eighteen women, who attempted to participate in the 1894 freedom struggles in Western (Turkish) Armenia. At eighteen, Shushanik was contemplating ways to liberate Armenians from the Turkish and Czarist oppressors and to secure an independent homeland. In 1895 she entered the Russian Progymnasium in Alexandrapol in preparation of leaving for Moscow in order to continue her education. Unable to afford the trip to Moscow in 1896, Shushanik's journey was postponed and it wasn't until 1903 that she finally arrived in Russia. Her husband, Arshak Kurghinian, a local businessman based in Alexandrapol, stayed behind and traveled occasionally, while Kurghinian remained in Rostov with her two children. Experiencing utmost hardship and poverty, Kurghinian immersed herself in the Russian revolutionary milieu and some of her most powerfully charged poetry was carved during these years of her affiliation with Rostov's laborer-proletarian underground.

Before the 1917 Russian Revolution, Kurghinian, with the assistance of Alexander Miasnikian, had managed to publish her first small compilation of poetry under the title The Ringing of the Dawn (1907). The poet had submitted a second manuscript, which was rejected by the Czarist censors because of the sociopolitical content - a controversial subject at the time. Her poetry brought out the most silenced voices and raised such issues as the unjust social conditions which forced poor women to prostitution or death. She was concerned with the status quo of women and the exploitive economic forces that suppressed them in a supremacist society. In several poems (Seamstress, Sold, I Pity You, I Want To Live, etc.) Kurghinian sets the stage for raw descriptions of her sisters of burden, calling them to solidarity and urging them to break away from the chains of patriarchal traditions. By doing so, Kurghinian does not extol women as objects of beauty or motherhood, but presents them as the battered, voiceless sex - sold and appropriated into marriage.

In 1921, after long journeys in Russia, and her husband's death in 1917, Kurghinian returned to a newly established Soviet Armenia. She actively took part in rebuilding the country, and whole-heartedly believed in Russia as the powerful ally for her star-crossed homeland. The poor living conditions and her weakened health (she was diagnosed with Exophthalmic Goiter) hampered Kurghinian's activities, as she spent months at various hospitals for treatment. In 1927 she lost her battle to the illness.

Kurghinian's daughter, Arshakanush compiled her second posthumous book, Best Works, 1939, after Armenia was sovietized. Her third collection of Selected Best Works was published in 1947, followed by the fourth book - Poems, 1971. A very significant addition to this collection is the latest edition of previously unpublished works, titled Literary Heritage: Poetry, Prose, Plays, Letters. The latter contains important correspondence with Armenian literary figures such as Hovhannes Tumanian, Avetik Isahakian, Vrtanes Papazian, Ghazaros Aghayan and others, offering a kaleidoscopic outlook of the poet's legacy.

Although Kurghinian tried her hand at prose and drama, she is best known for her reactionary poetry and political activities concerning women's issues. Preserved at the Museum of Art and Literature in Yerevan are fifty-nine hand-written notebooks of her poems, articles and other texts - among which are overtly feminist writings such as the play Solitary Woman, literary reviews and articles "Shirvanzade's Namus," "The Rural Woman," "The Voice of Woman" and the essays titled Women (1917-8).

During the Soviet years, Shushanik Kurghinian's selected poems were mainly used for socialist propaganda, thus undermining the true worth of this visionary writer and activist. In this context, cast solely as the proletarian singer, Kurghinian's multi-faceted texts have been trapped in the margins - leaving her valuable feminist theories unrevealed. With the recent sociopolitical developments in Armenia and the abandonment of socialism, her works are ignored furthermore and neglected by default. Shushanik Kurghinian has been and remains one of the most catalytic and fascinating figures of Armenian literature, who selflessly dedicated her life to improve the social condition of working-class women and the socially outcast members of her community.

Bibliography I Want to Live: Poems of Shushanik Kurghinian, AIWA Press, 2005. To help fund this project and check funding status enter here. Volume to be available in December. $15.95. Rowe, Victoria. A History of Armenian Women's Writing, 1880-1922. London: Cambridge Press, 2003 Kurghinian, Shushanik. Literary Heritage: Poetry, Prose, Plays, Letters. Ed. J. Mirzabekian, Yerevan: National Academy of Sciences, 1981 Isahakian, Avetik. Compilation of Works. 5th ed. Yerevan: Sovetakan Grogh, 1977 Kurghinian, Shushanik. Poems. Ed. J. Mirzabekian. Yerevan: Hayastan Publishing, 1971 Ghazarian, Hovhannes. Shushanik Kurghinian. Yerevan: National Academy of Sciences, 1955 Kurghinian, Shushanik. Compilation of Works. Ed. H. Mkrtchian. Yerevan: Haypethrat. 1947. Ishkhanian, Bakhshi. The Concept of Work and the Worker in the Poetry of Ada Negri, Hakob Hakobian and Shushanik Kurghinian. Nor Nakhijevan, 1909. Kurghinian, Shushanik. The Ringing of the Dawn. Nor Nakhijevan, 1907.

DO NOT LOVE ME S. Kurghinian, 1906 translated by S. Avagyan, 2004

 Do not love me gently as if 
 I were a blooming flower in spring, 
 or blinded by your virility, 
 burning with desire. 

 Do not deceive me with illusions, 
 my soul won't thrive on dreams; 
 open before me the chasm of life, 
 show its crimes and wounds to me. 

 Let me taste the poison of anguish, 
 courageously, with you; 
 let me relish freedom, and speak my mind, 
 striving for the light of deliverance. 

 Close to each person's sorrow 
 I want to bear the same great cross 
 carried by the rebel folks 
 toward the universal goal! 
   
 From trials let my heart wear down 
 and throb from never ceasing hardship, 
 let wrinkles web my youthful face, 
 traces of this barbaric life. 

 And when proudly, dressed in rags, 
 I arrive full of longing to visit you, 
 kneel to me, cling to my bosom, 
 plead for my womanly love… 

 A glowing love that did not hinder 
 my right to be human, mother and wife, 
 that always offered solace to my mate 
 when he was lonesome, in despair. 

 Do not love me as if I were a flower! 
 I want to live a worthy life - 
 as an atom in a mass of troubles 
 as a child of the street mobs! 
   

Sources: The above information is compiled by Shushan Avagyan. Born in Yerevan, Armenia, she is currently working on her doctorate in English and Women's Studies, and is the recipient of Dalkey Archive Press fellowship at the Illinois State University. She can be reached at savagya@ilstu.edu.

For further information read article/essay on Kurghinian by Shushan Avagyan published in the Critical Corner on Groong -Kurghinian

Feminist poem by Shushanik Kurghinian, as translated by Diana Der-Hovanessian, "Let us Unite"

Iconoclastic poem by Shushanik Kurghinian, as translated by Tatoul Papazian, "A Curse..."

Letter by Marc Nichanian, to translator of "IWANT TO LIVE" Shushan Avagyan "on Shushanik Kurghinian..."

http://www.aiwa-net.org/AIWAwriters/

Funding required for book/exhibition/video (updated 10/12/05): $10,250 Funding received to date, a total of: $5,150. On 1/14/05: $650 from On 1/31/05: $500 from the Watertown Cultural Council. On 6/08/05: $1000 from The John Mirak Foundation. On 10/03/05: $2500 private donation On 10/21/05: $500 Watertown Savings Bank

All the above funds have been used, for printing, editing, design, and video. Contributions are welcome. There is still need for marketing, exhibition, and creative promotional events funding. Checks should be made out to AIWA: Kurghinian Project. Book available now. Book launched at the Armenian Cultural Foundation in Arlington MA, on December 11th, 2005. Further presentations in Geneva (April, 2006) and Yerevan (summer, 2006).

http://www.aiwa-net.org/AIWAwriters/

Кургинян Ш. (1876-1927), поэтесса, которая представляла армянскую пролетарскую литературу (сборник «Звон зари, 1907). Ерканян В.С. Армянская культура в 1800-1917 гг. / Пер. с арм. К.С. Худавердяна. Ер., 1985.

=====

Кургинян Шушаник [18(30).8.1876, г. Александрополь, ныне Ленинакан, — 24.11.1927, Ереван], армянская советская поэтесса. Родилась в семье ремесленника. Печататься начала в 1899. Наряду с А. Акопяном К. стоит у истоков армянской пролетарской поэзии. Её лучшие стихи проникнуты революционным пафосом: «Гасите факелы», «Рабочие», «Наша боль одна». К. призывала женщин к борьбе за гражданские права («Объединимся мы тоже»). В 1907 вышел сборник К. «Звон зари». После поражения Революции 1905—07 К. написала ряд песен, направленных против реакции и упадничества, прославляла борцов за свободу («На братской могиле», «Перед тюрьмой», «Красное шествие»). В 1920 создала Армянский рабочий клуб им. С. Шаумяна во Владикавказе. В нач. 20-х гг. выступала в печати с песнями о победе нового.

  Соч.: В рус. пер., — [Стихи], в кн.: Антология армянской поэзии, М., 1940.
  Лит.: История армянской советской литературы, М., 1966;

БСЭ

==========================

КУРГИНЯН Шушаник (1873-1927), поэтесса. МЛИ АН Арм. ССР, ф. 83, 1440 ед. хр., 1888-1927.

========================

В 1920–1930-е интенсивное развитие получила социально-детермированная литература. Темы труда, социальной справедливости звучали в творчестве А.Акопяна, поэтессы Ш.Кургинян, Г.Сарьяна, М.Арази. В этот период важнейшими факторами развития армянской литературы стала борьба идей, сочетание традиций классического искусства и новых веяний. Произведения поэтов – О.Туманяна, А.Исаакяна, В.Теряна, И.Иоаннисяна, и прозаиков – А.Ширванзаде, Нар-Доса, Д.Демирчяна – стали вехами в истории литературы. Заметные явления в поэзии 1920–1930-х – стихи и басни детского писателя А.Хнкояна, лирические стихи Г.Сарьяна, Г.Маари, С.Таронци, Н.Зарьяна. Армянская проза 1920–1930-х характеризуется тематическим и жанрово-стилистическим многообразием. Стефан Зорьян – представитель психологической прозы, исторической эпопеи; принципы реалистического искусства получили своеобразное преломление в лирической прозе Акселя Бакунца. Другим армянским прозаиком был Дереник Демирчян – мастер рассказа и эпического повествования (роман Вардананк). Интересными страницами армянской прозы стали повести и романы В.О.Тотовенца, Г.Г.Маари, З.Есаян, М.Армена, М.Дарбиняна. Зулумян Бурастан Армянская литература // Энциклопедия Кругосвет // http://www.krugosvet.ru/articles/118/1011802/1011802a4.htm