Ruzanna Voskanyan

- Armenia -

Ruzanna Voskanyan was born in 1989 in Yerevan, Armenia. In 2012 she received master’s degree in Literary Criticism. Now Ruzanna is a PHD student in Armenian Philology at the Yerevan State University. The focus of her research is the features of existentialism in the contemporary Armenian prose.

Since 2009 Ruzanna has been a member of the Writers' Union of Armenia. Her poems have been translated into Russian, English and Italian and published in Armenian and Russian press and in mono/bilingual poetry anthologies as well. She has three poetry collections: "Transparent Rains" (2007), "Further and Further" (2013), "Not About You" (2019). She is a recipient of several awards, including the Youth Presidential Prize for her first book of poetry (2008). Ruzanna has taken part in literary festivals and symposiums, such as Forum of Young Writers of CIS in Russia (2012, 2013), The Annual Meeting of Armenian Young Writers (almost every year since 2005), Literary Ark International Festival (2012, 2015), Genoa's International Poetry Festival (2015), CROWD OMNIBUS Reading Tour (2016) etc. 

She is co-founder of www.cultural.am website which was created as a virtual platform for various types of arts. 

Ruzanna translates literary works from English and Russian into Armenian.


Book review

Just as all Japanese, Chinese and even Germans are similar to each other, so all modern writers are similar to each other for a person far from literature, especially the younger generation of writers, and a narrower group, for example, young people around the “Flashes”*, are completely indistinguishable. Like all Japanese, Chinese and Germans have something in common, so young people of the same generation, one literary group, inevitably have something in common, but each of them has his own distinctive feature, linguistic and visual means that are peculiar only to him. And as a person close to youth literature, I can definitely say that Ruzanna Voskanyan has her own unique handwriting, she has created her own stable corner in the modern youth literature.

The second book of the poet was published. For me this is a process, and it makes no sense to think that in the process it is possible to give a final and accurate assessment. From the very beginning of R. Voskanyan's literary steps, I’ve followed her development: I am interested in her type. 

After the first book, my favorite one, I wondered where she would go. The first book was followed by various stages, there was a rather long period of search, where there were "ups and downs", sometimes some influences intensified, and sometimes they were overcome. In the end, all this gathered under the heading “Further and further”, where there is both persistence in the unique development of the path that she found, and flexibility in updating her own image system and worldview.

Her poetry stands out most for its professional structure, metaphorical thinking and depth of imagery, with an accentuated and slightly melodious rhythm that she creates through the frequent use of inverted word order and refrains. Image play, which is the main way of constructing her poem, scatters and reassembles the say, and the say in this case is an ultra-oscillation of emotions, feelings, moods, that are personal enough to be sincere, at the same time abstracted from personal one to be closer to someone else.

Hasmik Khechikyan

 

 Literary group of young writers operating in the Writers' Union of Armenia.