Yes_We_Have

A Review of Yes, We Have

by Ara Baliozian | January 17th, 2012 | 0 comments
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about the author Ara
Baliozian
Canadian writer Ara Baliozian was born in Athens, Greece, and educated in Venice, Italy. Widely published in English and Armenian, he has been awarded many prizes and grants for his literary work. His books include The Greek Poetess and Other Writings, Armenia Observed: An Anthology, Fragmented Dreams: Armenians in Diaspora, and the best-selling study The Armenians: Their History and Culture. His translations of Armenian classics of Grigor Zohrab, Zabel Yessayan, and Kostan Zarian have been described as "valuable," "eloquent," "brilliant" contributions to world literature. He has himself been translated into French, German, Greek, Spanish, Russian and Armenian.

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We cherish our celebrities because they enhance our self-esteem. If they can make it in the odar world, so can we. Even as a child, when I knew little or nothing about Armenians (except for the massacres, of course), I knew that Gulbenkian, Saroyan, Mikoyan, and Khachaturian were Armenians.

The book under review is a mini-encyclopedia of Armenian Americans who have made contributions to their country of adoption. In addition to the usual suspects (Mamoulian, Cher, Arshile Gorky, Mike Connors), the reader will find here an astonishing number of inventors with their patent applications and clear outlines of their inventions. Every celebrity is accorded a brief biographical sketch, which seldom exceeds a dozen lines, and a photo.

In his foreword Stepan Partamian promises to issue updated and expanded editions in the future.

It is to be noted that two slightly expanded versions in Armenian are also available, one in Eastern Armenian (translated by Hakob Tsulikian), and the other in Western Armenian (translated by Ishkhan Jinbashian).

Stepan Partamian’s, Yes, We Have was published by Armenian Arts Fund and is available on www.thearmenian.com.

Editor’s note: An expanded version of The Armenians in America is due out July 4, 2012.

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