20 May 2003, 13:34
Shant Levon
Shant Levon is a pseudonym; the real name is Levon Segbosyan. B. 1869, Constantinople - d. November 29, 1951, Beirut. Armenian writer.
Graduated from clerical college in Uskyudar, the studied in Echmiadzinsky clerical seminary; in 1892-1899, studied in universities of Leipzig, Jena, and Munich, after which he returned to Armenia.
Published his works since 1891. The principal character of his early works - epic Highland Girl (1893), story The Others (1896), and dramas Egoist (1901) and On the Road (1904) - is a personality striving to find freedom in the world of illusions. His later creative works are marked with a search for larger historic weight. After the defeat of the 1905-1907 Revolution, wrote a drama Old Gods (1909, translated into Russian 1912); during the WWI of 1914-1918, wrote a drama Emperor (1916). Later, became close with Dashnaktsutyun party; purely national motives and themes started to predominate in his art. In 1921, after the Red Army entered Armenia, emigrated, lived in Europe, Asia, and North America. Since 1949, lived in Beirut, Lebanon. Wrote on the topics of the ancient past of the Armenian peoples: tragedy Oshinpayl (1932) and a novel Thirsty Souls (1941). With time, Shant and his characters move further and further away from the public interest; the symbolic perception of the reality started to predominated in the writers' works.
