Silva Kaputikyan: biography and creativity

For more than half a century, every Armenian schoolboy, having barely mastered his native alphabet, learns by heart the poem of Silva Kaputikian "Listen, sonny." This poetess, whose works in Russian sounded in the literary translations of B. Okudzhava, E. Evtushenko, B. Akhmadulina and others, made a great contribution to the development of Armenian literature and the strengthening of cultural ties between the peoples of the former Soviet republics.

Parents

The future poetess was born in Yerevan in 1919. She never saw her father, Barunak Kaputikian, who died shortly before her birth from cholera. Silva's parents were refugees from the city of Van (now in Turkey). Before the First World War, Barunak worked as a teacher and was an active member of one of the oldest Armenian political parties - Dashnaktsutyun. After it became clear that the city would be surrendered by the Russian troops to the Turks, he, together with other residents who survived after the Van self-defense, left his homeland and moved to Eastern Armenia. Among the refugees was the mother of Silva Kaputikian - Leah.

Youth

In 1937, the future poetess graduated with honors from the Yerevan Krupskaya School of Demonstration. Long before that, Silva Kaputikian had already begun to publish in the newspaper Pioneer Kanch, and her poem "Reply to Tumanyanu" made her quite famous among Armenian youth. In 1941, the girl graduated from the Philological Faculty of YSU and became a member of the Union of Writers of the Armenian Chess Federation. After 8 years she was sent to study in Moscow, at the Higher Literary Courses. M. Gorky. There she met many young poets and prose writers from other union republics.

Social activity

Silva Kaputikyan, whose biography is typical enough for representatives of the Soviet intelligentsia, sincerely believed in the ideas of communism. At the same time, she was engaged in active activities aimed at preserving the national identity of members of the Armenian diaspora in all parts of the world. In particular, Silva Kaputikyan traveled virtually all countries where numerous organized communities, consisting of refugees from Western Armenia and their descendants, operated. Among them there were many people who achieved great success in business, science and art in their host countries. Therefore, they could be useful for Soviet Armenia and for establishing informal ties between the Soviet Union and other states.

Position on the Karabakh issue and the last years of life

During the Perestroika period, Silva Kaputikian, despite her age, did not stand aside from political changes in society. She took an active position on the issue of self-determination of the NKR. On February 26, 1988, the poetess Zoria Balayan met with Gorbachev to persuade him to help resolve the Karabakh issue in favor of excluding Karabakh from Azerbaijan.

Since the beginning of the 1990s, Silva Kaputikyan began to speak with sharp criticism of the policy of the Armenian authorities, and after suppressing the opposition rally in 2004, she returned the Order of St. Mesrop Mashtots to the then President of the Republic of Armenia Robert Kocharyan.

Creation

Kaputikyan Silva Barunakovna for her long life has created many works - both lyrical and patriotic. They were published in well-known literary journals and in collections in Armenian (which, incidentally, was about 60). In addition, Silva Kaputikyan actively translated works of European, Soviet poets, as well as writers from the Middle East.

A family

Silva Kaputikyan was only in one short-term marriage. Her husband was the famous Armenian poet Hovhannes Shiraz, known for his poem "Danteakan", dedicated to the Armenian Genocide. From this marriage in 1941, a son was born - Ara, who later became a famous sculptor.

Awards

The merits of Silva Kaputikyan were appreciated by the authorities of the Armenian Armed Forces, the USSR and the Republic of Armenia.

The first award - the Stalin Prize of the second degree - she received in 1952 for the collection "My Native". In addition, she was awarded the Order of the October Revolution, the Red Banner of Labor, Friendship of Peoples, St. Mesrop Mashtots, Princess Olga of the III degree (Ukraine), etc.

In 1988, she was awarded the state award of the Armenian SSR, and 10 years later, Silva Barunakovna was awarded the title "Woman of the Year" (according to Cambridge Geographic Institute).

Memory

Kaputikyan Silva Barunakovna (photo above) died in 2006 and is buried in the Pantheon them. Komitas. Three years later, the house-museum of the poetess was opened in Yerevan, where educational and cultural events are held regularly.

Recently, her work has been actively discussed by young people and literary critics. At the same time, opinions are expressed that among Armenian poets of one generation with it there were many who excelled Kaputikyan in the power of talent, but did not deserve her laurels. Who is right, time will tell, but for now every Armenian schoolboy can quote the lines of her famous poem about her native language.