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Author Diane Goshgarian Launches Her Novel "The Arbitrary Sword" in Talk at NAASR

By Marc A. Mamigonian

BELMONT, MA - Boston-area writer Diane Goshgarian officially launched and spoke about the creation of her historical novel, The Arbitrary Sword, in a talk entitled "True Fiction: Telling the Story of Armenian Survival, 1895-1919," on Thursday evening, September 21, 2000, at the Center and Headquarters of the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) here.

Goshgarian grew up in Carlisle, Mass., currently lives in Brookline, and works as a nurse practitioner in Boston. In addition to her professional training, Goshgarian studied writing at the graduate level at Emerson College. She is the granddaughter of survivors of the Armenian Genocide, and she drew on the experiences of her maternal grandmother, Margaret Zakarian Ovoian, as well as those of her other grandparents, in creating the novel's main character.

In addition to drawing on the experiences of family members, Goshgarian also did a great deal of research into the background and context of the era of the Genocide. Most of the research was done at the NAASR library, and the lecture at NAASR was the official "launch" of the book.


Grandparents' Experiences Provided Inspiration

Goshgarian explained that the original idea for the book came from hearing her mother talk about Diane's grandmother's survival of the Genocide. The story stayed with her for a long time before she decided to use it as the basis for a book, but eventually she reached a point where she wanted to put the story in writing. Once she started to write, however, she realized that she did not have sufficient knowledge of the history surrounding the Armenian Genocide; in fact, she had not really understood that it was a genocide, as opposed to "massacres" or "troubles" or one of the other euphemistic terms sometimes used to describe it. Her attempts to educate herself on the subject were frustrated by the lack of resources in most libraries. Eventually, through NAASR, she found the necessary information to fill in the gaps in her knowledge and came to understand the context in which the Armenian Genocide occurred.

"What intrigued me was what led up to the Genocide, which is why I opened the book when I did," she explained. The novel starts during the massacre of 1895, which she called "the point of no return for Armenians in Turkey," because it demonstrated the extremes to which the Turks could go without facing any real consequences from the European powers. Goshgarian "came to understand that the Genocide was the culmination of a series of events," not a disaster that sprang out of nothing.

Everyday Life of Armenians Conveyed

The Arbitrary Sword does not focus exclusively on the 1915 era, but builds up to that climactic historical event. Goshgarian made extensive use of the details of day-to-day life she gleaned from her research and the reading of survivors' accounts, constructing a picture of normal life among the Armenians of the Kharpert region in the interior of Turkey. As a result, the novel conveys a wide range of information about the everyday culture of Armenians of the time in a way those who may be unfamiliar with the culture can easily understand.

Although the mass killings of the mid-1890s, 1909, and 1915 are an important part of The Arbitrary Sword, the routine details of the life of a young Armenian woman are just as important. The narrative centers on Victoria, a girl of seven at the start of the novel, whose maturation runs on a parallel course with the ongoing crises in Ottoman Armenia. Her life and those of the people closest to her are profoundly affected by forces beyond their control -- the "arbitrary sword" of violence which threatened all Armenians whether they knew it or not. As Goshgarian explained, the title meant for her that the Armenian Genocide and its antecedents struck down the rich and poor alike, the educated and the uneducated, the good and the bad.

Resistance and Political Conflict

Because of her interest in stories of Armenian resistance which she encountered in her research, and inspired by her grandmother's cryptic explanation for the family changing its name because of her brother's dangerous political activities, Goshgarian created the character Nikol. He is a young man with a mysterious background and connections to revolutionary groups. He is taken in by Victoria's family and comes to play an increasingly important role in her life. In the course of flashbacks in the novel, we learn of Nikol's activities, which included participation in the 1895 seizing of the Ottoman Bank in Constantinople. Through him we are given a picture of the turbulent and sometimes divisive politics of the Armenians trying to better their state in Turkey.


Bringing the Armenian Story to New Readers

Goshgarian stressed the importance of getting stories of the Armenian Genocide, be they memoirs, histories, or works of fiction, into the hands of those who are unaware of this chapter of history. Of particular importance is reaching the classroom and getting books on the Armenian Genocide into history, sociology, and literature curricula. She also recounted some of the difficulties she experienced as a first-time author trying to get a book published. After years of struggle, and inspired by the stories of her grandparents who survived the Genocide, she persisted and saw The Arbitrary Sword through to its publication earlier this year.


Special Ceremony Following Talk

Following Goshgarian's talk, a special "kinetson" was performed - a traditional Armenian ceremony which features the "baptism" of a new book with wine and toasts to the success of the book. Following the ceremony, Goshgarian took questions from the audience, and refreshments were served while she signed numerous copies of the book for audience members.

For more information on Goshgarian's book or about NAASR and its programs for the furtherance of Armenian studies, research, and publication, call (617) 489-1610, fax (617) 484-1759, or write to NAASR, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA 02478.