Aram's Notebook
With a deft and insightful eye, Anglada evoked the Jewish Holocaust in her much-lauded 1994 novel A Violin in Auschwitz. With the same mastery she sheds light on the Armenian genocide, exploring the oft-ignored massacres through a deeply affecting, oftentimes shocking tale.
Like any other fifteen-year-old boy, Aram might never have written the events of his still young life, except that he found himself suddenly plunged into exile, fleeing certain death. In 1915, the Ottoman authorities undertook the wholesale extermination of the Armenian people; hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children like Aram suffered one of the twentieth century’s most savage persecutions. Inspired by the plight of the murdered modernist poet Daniel Varoujan (1884–1915), this novel follows Aram and his widowed mother on their flight toward a new life on—and under—the sea. From recollections of his father’s meditations on Homer to a life-changing apprenticeship as a coral fisherman off the coasts of Cataluña and Marseille, Aram’s tale dives into a future that might help redeem a harrowing past. Aram’s Notebook examines the Armenian Genocide through a narrative in which poets and poetry loom large. Aram’s tale evokes a struggle not simply for physical survival, but for saving memory from the clutches of destruction.
Request more informationCovers
Original Language
CATALAN | Columna
Translation Rights
DUTCH | De Geus **rights available again
ENGLISH (World) | Swan Isle Press
FRENCH | Stock
GREEK | Konidaris **rights available again
ITALIAN | Angelica Editore **rights available again
SPANISH | Planeta
ROMANIAN | Meteor Press
Reviews
"Maria Àngels Anglada masterfully narrates survival through one of history's most devastating genocides. Ara H. Merjian’s deft translation of Aram’s Notebook underscores the profound truth of this widely readable and impactful novel: that despite our differences, we share a common humanity at our core." Amara Lakhous, professor in the Practice, Department of Italian Studies at Yale University, and author of Clash of Civilizations over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio
"Aram’s Notebook is a young boy’s fictional diary about the Armenian genocide and has found its ideal translator in Ara H. Merjian. Along with The Violin of Auschwitz, this short novel establishes Anglada’s well-deserved status in world literature." Joan Ramon Resina, professor of Iberian and Latin American cultures and comparative literature at Stanford University, author of Barcelona's Vocation of Modernity: Rise and Decline of an Urban Image
"The Catalan writer Maria Àngels Anglada reminds me again of how stories regarding the Armenian genocide in current times of ongoing wars and mass migration will find their tellers, and not always in expected places or languages. This book is an important contribution to world letters and the recounting of early twentieth-century history for future generations of readers." Micheline Aharonian Marcom, professor of creative writing at University of Virginia, author of DREAMer
