In the 1960s and 1970s, the social–political and literary–cultural life of our country entered a new orbit. A new literary generation came to the scene, which will adjust the main directions of the development of Armenian poetry, orientation standards, content and forms of expression. It seems that the innovative young poets who came to the scene, proposing harmonious ideals and ideas for the new time, were pushed out of the national spheres, but in fact, it is moving towards the origins of the national culture, towards the rich deposits of Armenian medieval poetry. Thus, discussions of national-traditional topics also become relevant. By balancing the past with the new times, it becomes a unique panorama to depict the present with the most pronounced shadow lines. Especially in the 1980s, the traditions of the Armenian Middle Ages had a wide circulation in various types of literature, particularly in poetry, which meant a return to the origins of folk creativity. They can be considered the innovators who reformed, combined and crossed the ancient genres of Armenians: sharakan, taghi, prayer, mythological myths, etc. They tend to the generality of art, which was specific to Armenian medieval art manifested in the form of symbolic universality. The past is represented not by the balance of historical material, but by the present–day interpretation of the internal charges of ideological and philosophical orientations, ancient Armenian traditions, myths, Christian motifs, plots, and images contained in them. However, it should also be noted that this tendency (return to the origins) is generally of a global nature.

Keywordstext fictional text tradition innovation poetry literature postmodernism

The article studies two most popular translations of the Book of Lamentation by St. Gregory of Narek from Grabar (Old Armenian) into Modern Armenian. On the example of Mkrtich Kheranyan’s and Vazgen Gevorgyan’s translations an attempt is made to study how translators perceive, interpret and reproduce a Medieval work in Modern Armenian, what problems they encounter while translating the text and what solutions they offer. The analysis of these translations not only provides an opportunity to evaluate translators’ efforts, but also detect problems and some peculiar features of the translation, which in the future can contribute to the emergence of new, improved translations of the Book of Lamentation. Commentaries facilitate an accurate comprehension of the Book of Lamentation, enabling readers to evaluate the work of the translators. Commentaries were produced between the 13th and 19th centuries with the objective to facilitate the comprehension of Gregory’s work. From an analysis of the translations of the Book of Lamentation and the testimonies of the translators, it is evident that in the translation process they have made use of the commentaries, while drawing on their own insights. Furthermore, as the medieval interpreters and subsequently H. Patriarch Nalean and G. Avetikean addressed the interpretation of the original text with a clear objective in mind, we have also referred to the analysis of the correlations between the original, its various interpretations and translations.

KeywordsGregory of Narek Book of Lamentation prayer book problems of the translation commentary context medieval thinking