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ccbc-net digest 9 Jan 2001
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From: Dkmelanie at aol.com <Dkmelanie>
Date: Sat, 13 Jan 2001 13:10:41 EST
In a message dated 01 01:52:12 EST, you write:
I'm just catching up on my ccbc discussion and came across Susan Daugherty's question about the authenticity of Adam Bagdasarian's FORGOTTEN FIRE. As editor of the book I thought I'd chime in with a few thoughts.
Adam is Armenian and grew up in an extended Armenian family. The novel is based on the true story of his great uncle's experiences as a young boy during the Armenian genocide. Adam knew his great-uncle Vahridj Kenderian well, he grew up hearing pieces of Vahridj's story again and again. When he became ill, Vahridj Kenderian made a tape of his experiences -- it was hearing that tape that convinced Adam he had to find a way to tell his great uncle's story. He first wrote an adult short story based on it which won the Yankee Magazine Fiction Prize. Then he spent 9 years writing this novel. He researched the details carefully - so carefully, in fact, that when he discovered in writing an important scene in the story --the moment when Vahan tries to escape his captors by squeezing himself down into a toilet and into the river below-- that the toilets of the time didn't work the way he had envisioned -- he rewrote the scene in order to be accurate - deleting some of what he felt was his best writing in order to be authentic!
While he tried to be true to the period and place - researching to get the details right - he also tried to choose his details carefully, so they wouldn't intrude on the story. In the end, the most important authenticity he strived for was to capture the emotional truth of his great uncle's experience. I hope readers will think he succeeded. I know that while I have read this novel, his first, time and again in working on it, I am always transported by the power of the writing and the story itself.
The novel has been embraced by many in the Armenian community including the AGBU - the Armenian General Benevolent Union - one of the most prominent Armenian organizations in America and it has received praise from several Armenian authors, Michael Arlen (winner of the National Book Award for his adult book, PASSAGE TO ARARAT) and Nancy Kricorian.
Melanie Kroupa
Received on Sat 13 Jan 2001 12:10:41 PM CST
Date: Sat, 13 Jan 2001 13:10:41 EST
In a message dated 01 01:52:12 EST, you write:
I'm just catching up on my ccbc discussion and came across Susan Daugherty's question about the authenticity of Adam Bagdasarian's FORGOTTEN FIRE. As editor of the book I thought I'd chime in with a few thoughts.
Adam is Armenian and grew up in an extended Armenian family. The novel is based on the true story of his great uncle's experiences as a young boy during the Armenian genocide. Adam knew his great-uncle Vahridj Kenderian well, he grew up hearing pieces of Vahridj's story again and again. When he became ill, Vahridj Kenderian made a tape of his experiences -- it was hearing that tape that convinced Adam he had to find a way to tell his great uncle's story. He first wrote an adult short story based on it which won the Yankee Magazine Fiction Prize. Then he spent 9 years writing this novel. He researched the details carefully - so carefully, in fact, that when he discovered in writing an important scene in the story --the moment when Vahan tries to escape his captors by squeezing himself down into a toilet and into the river below-- that the toilets of the time didn't work the way he had envisioned -- he rewrote the scene in order to be accurate - deleting some of what he felt was his best writing in order to be authentic!
While he tried to be true to the period and place - researching to get the details right - he also tried to choose his details carefully, so they wouldn't intrude on the story. In the end, the most important authenticity he strived for was to capture the emotional truth of his great uncle's experience. I hope readers will think he succeeded. I know that while I have read this novel, his first, time and again in working on it, I am always transported by the power of the writing and the story itself.
The novel has been embraced by many in the Armenian community including the AGBU - the Armenian General Benevolent Union - one of the most prominent Armenian organizations in America and it has received praise from several Armenian authors, Michael Arlen (winner of the National Book Award for his adult book, PASSAGE TO ARARAT) and Nancy Kricorian.
Melanie Kroupa
Received on Sat 13 Jan 2001 12:10:41 PM CST
