Armenian Literature: Comprising Poetry, Drama, Folk-lore and Classic Traditions

Project GutenbergProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.0
Word count
259K words
Chapters
26

Tags

English Originals Foreign Literature Human GeographyOral LiteratureEpic NarrativeDrama AdaptationPoetic LanguageTraditional AestheticsExotic CultureFolk CustomsFolk LegendCaucasian Life

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Armenian Literature: Comprising Poetry, Drama, Folk-lore and Classic Traditions;Author: ,Language: English, Class: PJ: Language and Literatures: Oriental languages and literatures, Release Date: Mar 1, 2004

Editor's review

This book is an English translation anthology of Armenian literature, gathering poetry, drama, folk tales, and classic traditional texts, opening a window for English readers onto the ancient literary traditions of the Caucasus. As a free Project Gutenberg eBook, its greatest value lies in accessibility and the preservation of primary texts: the selections span both oral and written layers, offering the plain narrative of folk legends alongside the solemn expression of classic traditions. Readers should not expect a systematic literary history or detailed annotations, but rather treat it as a literary sampling, sensing the rhythm and imagery of Armenian literature in English translation. It suits readers interested in Oriental languages and literatures, comparative literature, and folklore as supplementary reading, and is also suitable for classroom excerpt use. As a public-domain electronic text, the formatting and notes are plain; reading alongside background materials is recommended.

Who it's for

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Reading tips

  1. Start with the folk tales, then move on to poetry and drama to reduce unfamiliarity
  2. Note recurring motifs and images as you read for cross-comparison
  3. Read alongside background materials on Armenian history and geography to understand the context
  4. Select one piece for a reading group to discuss translation and oral transmission features

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
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  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
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  11. 11
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  13. 13
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  15. 15
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  18. 18
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FAQ

Is this book in the original Armenian or in English translation? This is an English translation anthology, collecting English translations of poetry, drama, folk tales, and classic traditions for English readers; it is not a bilingual edition with the original Armenian.
Can I read it without any background in Armenian literature? Yes, but expectations should be adjusted. The book has no systematic introduction or detailed annotations; it is advisable to start with the folk tales and then use background materials to understand the poetry and drama.
Is this book suitable for academic citation? It can serve as reading and teaching material for public-domain English translations, but before academic citation, specific edition, translator, and page information should be verified, and more authoritative critical editions or literary histories consulted.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Project Gutenberg Author

Project Gutenberg is not a single author but a nonprofit digital library founded by Michael Hart in 1971 and one of the world's earliest free ebook platforms. It relies on volunteers to digitize, proofread, and freely distribute public-domain works and is now operated by the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Its collection contains 2,692 works, mainly religious texts, epics, and story collections, including the King James Bible and the Douay-Rheims volumes, the epic Mahabharata, a literal translation of the Arabian Nights, and Danish editions of the Old and New Testaments. Public information is limited, and its nature is closer to a public-interest compiling and dissemination body; these texts are open to the public, easy to consult and circulate, and have had a profound influence on the spread of ebooks and the preservation of public-domain resources.