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Time in Yerevan: 11:07,   29 March 2024

"Armenpress" introduces bestseller books list 2/44

"Armenpress" introduces bestseller books list 2/44

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 26, 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 250 languages and dialects, as well as Braille.

Saint-Exupéry, a laureate of several of France's highest literary awards and a reserve military pilot at the start of the Second World War, wrote and illustrated the manuscript while exiled in the United States after the Fall of France. He had travelled there on a personal mission to persuade its government to quickly enter the war against Nazi Germany. In the midst of personal upheavals and failing health he produced almost half of the writings he would be remembered for, including a tender tale of loneliness, friendship, love and loss, in the form of a young prince fallen to Earth.

 “Sulamith: the Great love of Sevak” by Hovik Charkhchyan occupies the second place. Paruyr Sevak was an Armenian poet and literary critic. He is considered one of the greatest Armenian poets of the 20th century. Sevak was born Paruyr Ghazaryan in Chanakhchi (now Zangakatun) village, to Rafael and Anahit Soghomonyan on January 24, 1924. Young Paruyr attended the village school and later in 1940 moved to Yerevan to study at the philological faculty of Yerevan State University. He graduated from the YSU in 1945. The same year he starts a postgraduate study of Armenian literature at the Academy of Sciences Abeghyan Institute of Literature. In 1951 Sevak went to Moscow to study at the Gorky Institute of World Literature. Graduating from that institute Paruyr works there in 1957-59 as a translating professor.

Inspired by the Western Armenian poet Ruben Sevak, Paruyr Ghazaryan adopted the name Paruyr Sevak as his pen name. Sevak died on June 17, 1971 in a car crash while on a drive back to Yerevan. In previous years, he had voiced his criticism of the corruption of the Soviet establishment and for this, many Armenians believe, he was murdered by the Soviet government. His wife, Nelly Menagharishvili, also died in the car crash. He was buried in the backyard of his home, in Zangakatun, which later became a museum.

“Book of Whispers” authored by Varujan Vosganian is on the third place. The book is about the Armenian Genocide. This year “Book of Whispers” has been nominated for Nobel Prize. The book’s plot is woven with the characters of the author’s own family – with his grandfather Garabet as protagonist.

Naturally, in focusing the reader on the author’s grandparents, “The Book Of Whispers” examines the Armenian Genocide perpetrated in Turkey – the epochal calamity that sadly befell our people and robbed countless families of their homes, churches, schools, livelihoods and murdered 1.5 million people.

Like many Armenians who managed to escape the Genocide, Varujan Vosganian’s relatives found their way to Romania – their adoptive second home where they became proud patriots who enjoyed the freedom to practice their religion and maintain their ancient traditions.

The story of the book continues through the decades into Romania’s post World War II era where occupying Soviet troops brought with them both Communism and dictatorship. It is in these times that Voscanian recounts the story of how a group of Nationalist Armenians were rounded up and deported to Russia where many perished in Siberian gulags. Similar sad tales of Romanian Armenians being “repatriated” to Armenia also form part of the colorful fabric of this important work.

"Love in the Time of Cholera" by Márquez occupies the fourth position. 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.

"The Alchemist" novel by contemporary Brazilian author Paulo Coelho is on the fifth position. According to AFP, it has sold more than 65 million copies in 56 different languages, becoming one of thebest-selling books in history and setting the Guinness World Record for most translated book by a living author. The book is introduced with new publication by “Antares” publishing house.

"One Hundred Years of Solitude" again by Columbian author Gabriel García Márquez occupies the sixth 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.

The widely acclaimed book, considered by many to be the author's masterpiece, was first published in Spanish in 1967, and subsequently has been translated into thirty-seven languages and has sold more than 30 million copies. The magical realist style and thematic substance of One Hundred Years of Solitude established it as an important, representative novel of the literary Latin American Boom of the 1960s and 1970s, which wasstylistically influenced by Modernism (European and North American) and the Cuban Vanguardia (Vanguard) literary movement. One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. Inventive, amusing, magnetic, sad, and alive with unforgettable men and women -- brimming with truth, compassion, and a lyrical magic that strikes the soul -- this novel is a masterpiece in the art of fiction.

"Animal Farm" by George Orwell occupies the seventh position of our 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 original title was Animal Farm: A Fairy Story, though the subtitle was dropped by U.S. publishers for its 1946 publication and subsequently all but one of the translations during Orwell's lifetime omitted it. Other variations in the title include: A Satire and A Contemporary Satire. Orwell suggested the title Union des républiques socialistes animales for the French translation, which recalled the French name of the Soviet Union,Union des républiques socialistes soviétiques, and which abbreviates to URSA, the Latinfor "bear", a symbol of Russia.

“My Name Is Red” by writer Orhan Pamuk occupies the 8th place. At once a fiendishly devious mystery, a beguiling love story, and a brilliant symposium on the power of art, My Name Is Red is a transporting tale set amid the splendor and religious intrigue of sixteenth-century Istanbul, from one of the most prominent contemporary Turkish writers.

The Sultan has commissioned a cadre of the most acclaimed artists in the land to create a great book celebrating the glories of his realm. Their task: to illuminate the work in the European style. But because figurative art can be deemed an affront to Islam, this commission is a dangerous proposition indeed. The ruling elite therefore mustn’t know the full scope or nature of the project, and panic erupts when one of the chosen miniaturists disappears. The only clue to the mystery–or crime? –lies in the half-finished illuminations themselves. Part fantasy and part philosophical puzzle, My Name is Red is a kaleidoscopic journey to the intersection of art, religion, love, sex and power.

''The Book of Lamentations'' by St. Gregory of Narek occupies the ninth position of the list. As far as the pearl of the medieval Armenian literature, which is also known to the public as "Narek" for short, is much in demand in Armenia, "Nairi" printing house introduced the new publication of the book. 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. 

And "The Name of the Rose" by Italian author Umberto Eco occupies the final place of this week's "Bestseller Books List" introduced by "Armenpress" News Agency. A spectacular best seller and now a classic, The Name of the Rose catapulted Umberto Eco, an Italian professor of semiotics turned novelist, to international prominence. An erudite murder mystery set in a fourteenth-century monastery, it is not only a gripping story but also a brilliant exploration of medieval philosophy, history, theology, and logic.

In 1327, Brother William of Baskerville is sent to investigate a wealthy Italian abbey whose monks are suspected of heresy. When his mission is overshadowed by seven bizarre deaths patterned on the book of Revelation, Brother William turns detective, following the trail of a conspiracy that brings him face-to-face with the abbey’s labyrinthine secrets, the subversive effects of laughter, and the medieval Inquisition. Caught in a power struggle between the emperor he serves and the pope who rules the Church, Brother William comes to see that what is at stake is larger than any mere political dispute–that his investigation is being blocked by those who fear imagination, curiosity, and the power of ideas.

The Name of the Rose offers the reader not only an ingeniously constructed mystery—complete with secret symbols and coded manuscripts—but also an unparalleled portrait of the medieval world on the brink of profound transformation.

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), “Edit Print” (57-70-09), “Bureaucrat” (50-01-52), “Bookinist” (53-74-13), “Art Bridge” (58-12-84)  and “Zangak” (23-25-28).

Completed by Roza Grigoryan




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