I've Been Reading

 

The title of this post is the title of an occasional column my Great Uncle Rouben Gavoor wrote for the Hairenik Weekly (now known as the Armenian Weekly).  Uncle Rouben, my paternal grandfather’s brother, was the youngest of six children of Mardine and Mariam Kharagavoorian.  He was born in the Keserig village of Kharpert.  He was the only one to be educated in US were they all immigrated to.  He went to Medford High School in Medford, Massachusetts and got a bachelor’s degree in journalism from New York University.   Because of his degree in journalism and his adventures traveling and living around the world in his career with the US Foreign Service, he became a writer for the Hairenik Weekly.  It warms my heart that I write for the Armenian Weekly myself and feel this extra-special connection with Uncle Rouben. 

When Uncle Rouben wrote an “I’ve Been Reading” column, he was basically reviewing a book or two that he thought might be of interest to Armenians.  Well, I’ve been reading lately, and one the books would certainly be of interests to Armenians and others.

I came upon a collection of short stories by William Saroyan:  The Man with his Heart in the Highlands and Other Stories.  This paperback, a Dell Laurel Edition, was published in 1968.  The book sold for 50 cents which is the equivalent of a mere $3.80 today.  What struck me about the book was just how compact it is.  It truly is a pocket-book.  It fits easily in my back pants or jacket pocket.  It is just a bit larger than my cell phone.  No doubt a result of the smaller size of the book, the font size was surprisingly small by today’s standards.  With the yellowing pages, I need a well-lit setting to read it.

Before, I even got to the first story, my heart melted when I read the dedication.

 

To

Roupen Darbinian

Editor in Chief

Hairenik Monthly

Hairenik Daily

of Boston

America

and the World

a great editor

with thanks and admiration

 

Roupen Darbinian was the editor that no doubt got my Uncle Rouben involved with writing for the paper.  He was also a mentor of William Saroyan and publisher of Saroyan’s work when he first started writing.  Darbinian (nee Artashes Stepani Chilingarian) was born in the Javekheti region of Georgia in 1883.  He studied in Tiflis through high school, attended university in Germany, and the Faculty of Law in Moscow.  He was active in the ARF and contributed to several party newspapers.  He served as Minister of Justice in the short lived First Republic of Armenia. With the Sovietization of the Republic, he moved first to Persia and then to the US where he became the editor of the Hairenik Publications.  He died in 1968, the year Dell published this Saroyan book. 

Saroyan introduced each story.  It made me wish I could have sat down with him and chatted, though I am not sure we would have gotten along well.  I am not entirely sure why I say this except that is the impression I am left after reading these stories and his other writings in Obituaries and Place Where I’ve Done Timing. 

I am only part way through this book of short stories.  I might have waited until I finished, but the title of this post is “I’ve Been Reading,” as in still reading, not quite done yet. I love these stories.  They provide a glimpse into the Fresno of Saroyan’s youth.  It gives a feel for the peasants who were displaced from the old country to the US.   It really gave a feel for the poverty Saroyan experienced growing up.  Some stories are more Armenian than others, but all are though the eyes of the author, a first generation American-Armenian.  The stories are bittersweet in the Armenian sense of that word… if there is even an Armenian sense of that word.

Uncle Rouben knew Saroyan.  The met in Europe, if I am not mistaken.  I think they were acquaintances more than friends just from how rarely Uncle Rouben spoke about him.

So, I’ve been reading and will continue to do so.  And as I read Saroyan (Rock Wagram is next in the queue), I shall think of Rouben Darbinian, William Saroyan, Rouben Gavoor, and the Hairenik Weekly they all wrote for and loved.