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[Guest arabaliozian]

Q/A**************************"How can you hope to succeed where far better men than yourself have failed?" I am asked once in a while by fellow writers who have given up the struggle and have come to terms with the status quo as an inevitable fact of life.I try to explain that at no time have I thought of myself as a lone voice in the wilderness. On the contrary. If anything, I am more like a member of a vast chorus with a millennial tradition -- that of dissent.Besides, one doesn't have to have the strength of a giant to carry the proverbial last straw destined to break the camel’s back. "When destiny has accomplished its purpose in me," Napoleon once said, "a fly may suffice to destroy me."Likewise, when our "emperors" run out of lies, a child’s whisper may suffice to expose their nakedness to the world.UNTITLED******************************by Shavarsh Nartuni***************************************Translator’s note: the original of what follows is inprose. I did not go out of my way to versify it. Itcame out that way. I am not a poet. I have writtenonly one poem in my life, a bad poem, as befits thebad man who inspired it.About Nartuni: he was not a poet but a doctor whoproduced several volumes of prose (published in bookform only posthumously). He lived in Paris.  Thistranslation (my very first) was published thirty years agoin ARARAT Quarterly in New York. Another Armenian poet who specializes in translating verse thinking this to be a poem took the liberty of retranslating it by changing one or two words here and there.***************************************************************This morning more than everI am seized by an irresistible longingto speak my mother tongue.I  search for an Armenian,any Armenian, with whom I can speak.If you understand this strange,irresistible longing,please help me. I would like to meet an Armenian,any Armenian,even an alienated onewho has forgotten his mother tongue.Let him remember a single word only;and let our paths crossso that I may say to him:Are you Armenian?And if he were to nod yes with his head,I would immediately cry out the wordstaught to me  by my father and mother:Pari Louys!In the name of everything that is holy,I swear to youthere can be nothing sweeter,nothing more heartrending.How much meaning have our ancestorsplaced in that expression!...O my lovely Armenian language:as fresh as the mornand as deep as the night;as frolicsome as a childand as wise as an old man;as consoling as a prayerand as beautiful as Spring.O my sweet Armenian languagefit for a mighty kingas well as a humble peasant,suitable for townspeopleas well as villagers,ever youthful,ever mighty,may you  live forever!Thursday, August 22, 2002*******************************To paraphrase Tolstoy, very much like unhappy families, dysfunctional nations are dysfunctional in their own way.*When it comes to injuries that have been inflicted on us by other, we have a photographic memory; but when it comes to our own blunders, we become advanced cases of Alzheimer’s.*Don't worry about me saying the same thing; worry instead about our situation staying the same.*In today’s paper I saw pictures of a head of state and that of a serial killer and I couldn't tell the difference.*Every nation has a lunatic fringe; but even our lunatic fringe has a lunatic fringe.LATER [22 August, 2002]*****************************In a Chekhov short story, I read: "Varenka, be it said among us, has a passionate nature (her grandfather was an Armenian)."*In a history of the Ottoman Empire I read that Sultan Ibrahim’s "special favorite is said to have been an Armenian woman who weighted over 300 pounds."*Many years ago I remember a Jewish coworker saying that if a Jew wants to become a ballet dancer he acquires a Russian surname, if an operatic tenor an Italian surname, and if a Flamenco dancer a Spanish surname. I thought he was kidding (he had a brilliant sense of humor) but I have since come to realize that he was not. I am reminded of this when I read the following in THE DIARIES OF KENNETH TYNAN: "I recall what I said to the Panovs (Jewish ballet dancers…)" *My problem: I speak against oppression, especially the oppression of ignorance, to an audience infatuated with their ignorance.*Perverted patriotism places a plus sign on ourselves and a minus sign on the rest of mankind.Saturday, August 24, 2002*****************************On more than one occasion I have received hateful letters urging me to love my fellow Armenians.*Before you attempt to solve someone else’s problems, solve your own. Remember, actions speak louder than empty verbiage.*The easiest assumption an Armenian makes is to think of himself as a better Armenian: not as a more decent or honest human being; but as a superior brand of Armenian. That’s because there are no generally accepted criteria for being an Armenian and everyone feels fully authorized to invent his own.*One of the functions of criticism is to remind usthat no matter how you slice it, propaganda is recycled crap, and just because two million, or for that matter,twenty or two hundred million people believe in it and are willing to die or kill for it, that doesn't make it true -- think of organizedreligions and ideologies and the crimes that have been committed in their name. The reason why critics are not popular is that no one likes to be told he is a dupe andwhat he believes in is crapola.