Yerevan Bestseller 3/34: “The Piano Teacher” by Elfriede Jelinek back on the list

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 16, ARMENPRESS. "The Little Prince" by French author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry tops this week's "Bestseller Books List" introduced by "Armenpress" News Agency. The novella is both the most read and most translated book in the French language, and was voted the best book of the 20th century in France. The book was translated into more than 190 languages.

“Book ofWhispers” authored byVarujan Vosganianis in the 2nd place. The book is about the Armenian Genocide. This year “Book ofWhispers” has been nominated for Nobel Prize.

“The Sandcastle Girls” by Chris Bohjalian is on the third position of the list. “The Sandcastle Girls” is about the Armenian Genocide and its century-long denial by Turkey. The novel includes two stories in one: the story of Elizabeth Endicott and Armen Petrosian, lovers who meet in Syria during the genocide; and the story of Laura Petrosian, their granddaughter, who after a century tries to understand why they were so silent about their youth, while her suburban existence is quite different from the violent setting in which her grandparents fell in love.

“The Piano Teacher” by Austrian Nobel Prize winner Elfriede Jelinek is on the fourth place. The most popular work from provocative Austrian Nobel laureate Elfriede Jelinek, The Piano Teacher is a searing portrait of a woman bound between a repressive society and her darkest desires. Erika Kohut is a piano teacher at the prestigious and formal Vienna Conservatory, who still lives with her domineering and possessive mother. Her life appears boring, but Erika, a quiet thirty-eight-year-old, secretly visits Turkish peep shows at night and watched sadomasochistic films. Meanwhile, a handsome, self-absorbed, seventeen-year-old student has become enamored with Erika and sets out to seduce her. She resists him at first—but then the dark passions roiling under the piano teacher’s subdued exterior explode in a release of perversity, violence, and degradation.

The book “1984” by George Orwell is the fifth on the list. The latter is included in “Banned Books” of Antares publishing house.

The next is "Bastard of Istanbul" by Elif Şafak. The book is dedicated to various problems the modern Turkey has to face with. The author pays a lot of attention to the issue of the Armenian Genocide, which has become an insuperable complex in the psychology of the Turks. Elif Şafak's books have been translated into more than thirty languages, and she was awarded the honorary distinction of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters.

"Animal Farm" by George Orwell is seventh on "Bestseller Books List”. Animal Farm is an allegorical and dystopian novel, published in Englandon 17 August 1945. According to Orwell, the book reflects events leading up to theRussian Revolution of 1917 and then on into the Stalin era in the Soviet Union. Orwell, ademocratic socialist, was an outspoken critic of Joseph Stalin and, especially after experiences with the NKVD and the Spanish Civil War, he was actively opposed to the controversial ideology of Stalinism. The Soviet Union, he believed, had become a brutaldictatorship, built upon a cult of personality and enforced by a reign of terror. In a letter to Yvonne Davet, Orwell described Animal Farm as a satirical tale against Stalin "un conte satirique contre Staline", and in his essay "Why I Write" (1946), he wrote that Animal Farm was the first book in which he had tried, with full consciousness of what he was doing, "to fuse political purpose and artistic purpose into one whole”.

“The Book of Lamentations'' by St. Gregory of Narek published by “MHM” and “Zangak” publishing houses occupies the 8th position of the list. The mystical poem "Book of Lamentations" has been translated into many languages and has played a significant role in the development of the Armenian literary language. In 95 grace-filled prayers St. Gregory draws on the exquisite potential of the Classical Armenian language to translate the pure sighs of the broken and contrite heart into an offering of words pleasing to God. The result is an edifice of faith for the ages, unique in Christian literature for its rich imagery, its subtle theology, its Biblical erudition, and the sincere immediacy of its communication with God. This masterpiece by St. Gregory of Narek has always been included in our bestseller books list.

"One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Columbian author Gabriel García Márquez occupies the 9th place . One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the multi-generational story of the Buendía family, whose patriarch, José Arcadio Buendía, founds the town of Macondo, the metaphoric Colombia.

"Love in the Time of Cholera" by Gabriel García Márquez closes this week's "Bestseller Books List" introduced by "Armenpress" News Agency. In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy, well-born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is a romantic. As he rises in his business career he whiles away the years in 622 affairs--yet he reserves his heart for Fermina. Her husband dies at last, and Florentino purposefully attends the funeral. Fifty years, nine months, and four days after he first declared his love for Fermina, he will do so again.

To complete the bestseller list, the following bookshops have participated in the survey: “New Book” (093-60-40-64), “Noah’s Ark” (56-81-84), “Armenian Book” (54-07-06), “Narek” (51-91-36), “Bookinist” (53-74-13), “Antares” (091-90-01-23) and “Zangak” (23-25-28).

Presented by Roza Grigoryan