Every spring, travelers’ readings and meetings are organized in France dedicated to poetry. It is called “Spring of Poets”. Poets from different countries are invited to France to read their works, tour the cities, participate in book presentations, discussions, and communicate with book lovers. The events take place in exhibition halls, cafes, cinemas and libraries. In a word, it is aimed at turning language communication and evaluation of the word into something usual and at the same time impressive. A network of poets has been established in France intended to maintain contacts between the poets and the readers.
France, as other countries of the world, complains that there are less and less people reading books nowadays. That is why the French are planning very concrete and perspective events in order to “train” people to read. Well-known poet Iosif Brodski, for example, used to say that not reading books must be classified as one of the fatal sins. If you don’t read books, then you don’t develop and crucify yourself.
The anthology of contemporary Armenian poetry was printed in France last year and it was highly approved by the French. This year Armenian poets, Hovhannes Grigoryan and Tigran Paskevichyan left for France, where they visited ten cities of France in half a month. The presentation of Hovhannes Grigoryan’s “Constitution” collection of poems took place in the French city of Avinion, and this book is the first in the history of Armenian literature to have a foreign publisher. The book has been translated into French and has been printed for French readers. It was beautifully published in high quality by the French publisher. Hovhannes Grigoryan is certain that poetry plays a special role in a person’s life and has a particular mission.
– Besides being a beautiful “dessert”, poetry can and must be of practical significance. Language lives, functions and refreshes through by way of the poet. As Elliot used to say, poetry cleans the sebaceous glands of language. So, it is the poet’s job to keep the language young and alive.
– Do prose writers have the same mission?
– Prose can’t do the same thing because it is weak poetry, while poetry is a novel that has been centralized and adapted. It is not by chance that all good prose writers have been good and interesting poets. The French, for example, consider Hugo as their best poet. Although he is better known to the world by his poetry, he is accepted first as a poet in his homeland. Poetry is a natural phenomenon and it steps into the world more difficultly. Prose is an everyday method of communication; we all communicate with each other by prose, we talk on the phone by prose.
– It seems as though poets have always been the reflection of the individual’s remorse and inner voice; they have said out loud what awaits the people. Do we need that kind of voice nowadays?
-Each time creates its model. There is a saying: “People are much more similar to their time than their parents”. There was a time in Armenia when people read Shiraz, who was talking about things that were half-prohibited. Then it was the time of Sevak’s model of poetry, when you could speak about phenomena out loud. Now, in the 21st century, we have the freedom of speech model. You can say whatever you want to say, just as long as you make it interesting. Interesting is the same as being talented, because the talented person can not be boring. Talent is a unit of currency which is equivalent to one gold coin. It turns out that the person with the gold coin is always interesting.
– What do we need to differentiate the gold, the good from the mediocre, and really support the talented person? Poets had a hard time presenting themselves. Can the world network help them get recognized?
– The Internet is full of so much trash that you can barely understand the hierarchy of literature. For example, the “New York Times” has a literary column in its newspaper where you have a list of writers. I believe what I read because I know that the column is prepared by a person who knows what he is doing and whenever I read about a writer in that column, I go to the store, search for that writer and buy the book. But I don’t believe in the Internet. The Ministry of Culture of Armenia must play that kind of a role.
– Wouldn’t it be better to expect the Writers’ Union of Armenia to make that kind of an analysis or spread the word?
– The Writers’ Union can’t create a list because it is not independent; it is under the pressure of 450 writers and only 10-15 of those are actually writers. The rest simply write. If one day I say that, for example, this one reader is the most talented writer, then the other 449 writers will kill me.
– Should writers be ambitious?
– There is nobody that is not ambitious, especially writers. They say that the soldier that doesn’t want to become a general can’t be a real soldier. The same goes for the writer.
– What does it mean to become the “general” of literature?
– Becoming the most…most. A writer must definitely be self-centered and accept no other writer besides himself.
-Does poetry help us live?
– It helps those who want to live by the laws of poetry; in other words, have high, strong, unusual and extraordinary feelings. If a person is simply living with a burden, then poetry will not help him. But if a person carries the burden and waits to relax for at least 20 minutes of the day, then poetry will come to the rescue.
– Perhaps comedy shows help him quicker?
– Comedy shows may “keep” you for 5-10 minutes, not more than that. We mustn’t ignore humor; it affects the brain like champagne and quickly “loses” its influence. Everyday life has its poetry. Twentieth century poetry rejected romanticism, the pathos; now poets have come down from Olympus and are standing next to ordinary people because they have realized how marvelous it is to live with people in this small world. I am certain that speaking to the people in verses is difficult in the 21st century. There are many painful issues and worries that you simply can’t put in verses or beautify. Narekatsi starts one of the chapters of his poem like this: I know how to write verse; some write verse to make people cry. He wrote in verse the parts in which he wanted to touch the reader.
– In your opinion, what kind of a leader or hero do Armenians need?
– The hero of our people is David of Sasoun, who was gifted with a supernatural strength. Today, the president must be almost the same-he has to be someone gifted, with supernatural force. There is nothing unusual about that strength; it is not that big of a thing. Our heroes of today have to be our country’s authorities, but we don’t see such heroes. Today people are pressured by the burdens of daily issues. We are very mundane; we look down so that we can find money on the floor or the joy that others have lost. And when we do find it, the poets come and say ‘don’t get too happy, that is somebody’s else’s’. The poet is like the “yeast” without which you can’t make bread because it won’t be tasty and nobody will eat it.