The National Library of Armenia hosted an educational lecture “Saroyan Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow” dedicated to the 115th anniversary of William Saroyan. The lecture was given by cinematographer and translator Zaven Boyajyan. He highly appreciated the work of the great writer, touched on past and current translations of his works, and spoke about the interest and appreciation of Saroyan’s books in the Armenian press and the Armenian diaspora. “To this day, Saroyan is the most famous Armenian writer in the world” — the translator assured, noting that translations of Saroyan’s works have been steadily published in the press of the Armenian diaspora since the second half of the 1930s. As for Soviet Armenia, Saroyan’s first book translated into Armenian, a collection of short stories ‘60 Miles Per Hour’, was published in 1959. Boyajian's research into Saroyan's work also began with this collection.  

“One of the most frequently asked questions is why Saroyan, who caused a very serious resonance in the 30s and 40s, even in the 50s and was considered one of the most promising and important writers, gradually met with an increasingly sluggish reception among critics and was subsequently gradually forgotten by American literature. This is a very difficult question, and it is probably impossible to answer it fully,” continued Zaven Boyajyan. “The fate of Saroyan’s translation not only in Armenia, but also in Russia, I would not say was successful, because the Russians discovered Saroyan at a time when it was customary to translate Faulkner, Hemingway, Steinbeck, and Saroyan remained in the shadow of these writers. “Today Saroyan is mostly forgotten, he is a half-forgotten writer, especially in the outside world, especially in the same category as the writers I mentioned “. 

According to the translator, there was a need to turn to Saroyan again, to re-translate his works or to supplement existing translations. The speaker noted that Antares Publishing House, which published Saroyan series and has already published nine books by the writer, was skeptical about creating a series named after the writer. “Many believed that Saroyan was already a well-known and sought-after author and was unlikely to arouse a new wave of interest, but then the books were published, and around them, in the true sense of the word, a reading boom began to grow. And for several years, Saroyan’s works have been republished by Antares. Now these are some of the best books published by the publishing house, and we realized that interest in Saroyan has not gone away” — emphasized Zaven Boyajyan. 

Then the lecturer continued: “Generations have changed, and now many perceive Saroyan in a new way, so there is a need to deepen and expand our acquaintance with his work because many people think that Saroyan’s works are limited by what has already been printed, but I assure you that this is not all.” Zaven Boyajian expressed the belief that many of Saroyan's works are extremely important, especially for Armenians, and therefore need to be translated. In his opinion, if “Saroyan is today a half-forgotten writer in America or in the West, then this means that we must take responsibility for Saroyan and the literature he created, so to speak, by right of owner.” 

An exhibition of works by Saroyan, books and magazines about him, as well as, in particular, exclusive photo albums, also opened in the large exhibition hall named after Alexander Tamanyan of the National Library of Armenia. The exhibition presented the writer’s first book The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze — from the first publication in 1934 to the last lifetime edition in 1979 — many other valuable original publications in English, the libretto of the musical The Human Comedy, German, French, Turkish, Romanian, Latvian and Russian editions of Saroyan’s books, as well as books with autographs of the author, his letters and many other materials. The exhibition will be open until September 25, 2023.