The burden borne by the
grandchildren of genocide survivors haunts all Armenians, even the most
complacent, and it provides the theme of much Armenian literature over these
one hundred years. It is particularly appropriate then, though unfortunately
still too tentative, for Erdogan to address himself to those now fully mature Armenian
grandchildren. Their significant burden has seldom been noted by Turkish
authorities.
It is this burden carried
by the children and particularly by the grandchildren of the genocide which has
loomed large in my own thought and imagination. It has led me to write a novel
I’ve just completed, “The Ash Tree.” The book is partly a fictionalized version
of the story of my wife’s family, for her father – Aram Arax – was a witness in
Istanbul in 1915, and his memories form a crucial inheritance for Jeanette and
her brothers.
That story has been explored
in her nephew Mark’s memoir, in other fiction, and in essays; what I’ve tried
to do is to tell it particularly from the point of view of the women in the
story. The mother and the daughter are two passionate and lively women, who
experience in equal measure the tragedy and the comedy of this story.
I’ll try to describe more of
"The Ash Tree" in future posts; I’ve been away from this blog due to illness, but am
returning.
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