To Say with Passion: Why Am I Here?
This volume is a facing-page bilingual (Armenian and English) edition of Tenny Arlen’s (1991–2015) book of Armenian poetry posthumously published in 2021 under the title ԿԻՐՔՈՎ ԸՍԵԼՈՒ՝ ԻՆՉՈ՞Ւ ՀՈՍ ԵՄ. It includes the original and translation of everything found in the Armenian edition, including an appendix of the author’s poetic prose works, as well as an afterword by her professor Dr. Hagop Gulludjian in which he reflects upon Tenny's creative journey—from being a new learner of the language to her remarkable achievement of having produced the first full-length work of creative literature written in Armenian by an American-born writer. New to this edition are a second appendix with three newly discovered writings found among Tenny’s papers, a third appendix with images of the first drafts of eight of her poems (some showing Dr. Gulludjian’s edits), and a new afterword by Arthur Ipek in which he reflects on Tenny's poetry as an example of exophony (creative writing in a non-native language), highlights some principal themes in her work, and evaluates her place in the Armenian literary tradition.
Tenny’s poems were written in Modern Armenian (աշխարհաբար (ashkharhapar), lit. “world-manner”), specifically in the Western Armenian dialect of the language. Although this website is dedicated to the Classical form of the language, this volume has been included here since it represents the continuation of the widespread Armenian practice—beginning with invention of the alphabet in 405 a.d.—of translating works written in other languages.
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