THE CAUCASIAN TRIP OF VALERI BRYUSOV, THE ANTHOLOGY OF ''ARMENIAN POETRY'' AND HOVHANNES TOUMANYAN

Abstract

The meeting of Armenian poet Hovhannes Tou-manyan and Valeri Bryusov carries a special weight in the history of national culture. More than a century their short-time but meaningful private and creative friendship has not lost its literary-historical meaning and is rightly understood by Armenian and Russian nations and a symbol of long time connections and spiritual-cultural closeness. Today, when new priorities are opened for Russian-Armenian literary-cultural communications there is need to reevaluate the historical and cultural clues. This study attempts to look at this issue in light of a multidimensional and a more complete approach. The article particularly focuses on the Caucasian trips of Brusov connected with the preparation of the collection "Armenian Poetry", Brusov's lectures of the Armenian century-long culture, the general background and Toumanyan's appraisals on it, their private ties, the reflections in Russian and Armenian media, and other questions in the framework of these questions. Addressing the values of the modern Armenian poetry, Bryusov comments on Toumanyan with a special affection naming him the "father" of the Armenian poetry. He highlights the poet's talent in revealing the national characteristics, understanding of life and the deep layers and shades of the national psychology. Brusov values Toumanyan's exceptional talent in almost all spheres: rhetoric, child literature, public speaking, and so on. He states the rule describing Toumanyan's creative world. That is: "On the whole, the poetry of Toumanyan is Armenia itself".