Paruyr Sevak

Sevak was born Paruyr Ghazaryan () in the village of Chanakhchi (now Zangakatun), Armenian SSR, Soviet Union to Rafael and Anahit Soghomonyan on January 24, 1924. His ancestors had migrated to Chanakhchi, a remote, mountainous village, from the village of Havtvan in Salmast (Salmas), Iran in 1828. In 1939, he became a student at the philological faculty of Yerevan State University. He graduated in 1945. 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. In 1951, Sevak went to Moscow to study at the Gorky Institute of World Literature. == Thaw and literary work ==

After graduation from the Gorky Institute, Sevak worked there as a professor of translation in 1957–59, at the height of Nikita Khrushchev's Thaw. In 1959, he authored the long poem Anlr’eli zangakatunë (The Unsilenceable Belfry or The Incessant Bell-tower) , a work dedicated to Armenian composer Komitas and to the memory of the Armenian genocide. In 1960, Sevak moved back to Yerevan where he resumed his prolific literary, scientific, and public career. From 1966 to 1971, Sevak served as secretary on the Board of the Writers Union of Armenia. In 1967, he became a doctor of philology after his dissertation defense. In 1968, Sevak was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR. == Death and legacy ==

Sevak died on June 17, 1971, in a car crash while on a drive back to Yerevan. His wife, Nelly Menagharishvili, also died in the car crash. Sevak was buried in the backyard of his home, in Zangakatun, which later became a museum open to the public. One of the main streets of Yerevan's Kanaker-Zeytun District is named after him. School #123 of Yerevan is also named after Sevak. In 1984, Levon Mkrtchyan directed the film Paruyr Sevak for Armenfilm. On 2018, the third series of Dram banknotes were printed, featuring Sevak on the 1000 Dram note. == Publications ==

• (1948) Anmahnerë hramayum en ( (The immortals command)) • (1953) Anhasht mtermut’yun ( (Irreconcilable intimacy)) • (1954) Siro chanaparh ( (Path of love)) • (1969) Yeghits’i luys ( (Let there be light) • (1971) Dzer tsanot’nerë ( (Your acquaintances)) • (1972–1976) Yerkeri zhoghovatsu vets’ hatorov ( (Collected works in six volumes)) • (1982–1983) Yerker: zhoghovatsu yerek’ hatorov ( (Collected works in three volumes)) Translations into English • 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). ==Notes==