AN ARMENIAN SKETCHBOOK: BOOK REVIEW
When I travel, I don’t document my experiences as much as I should. Whether it’s a brief journey or halfway across the world, there is always a benefit in documenting one’s adventures. However, this book is a reminder that oftentimes travelers tend to hold very orientalist perspectives on West Asians. In an Armenian Sketchbook, written by Vasily Grossman, the author details the two months he spent visiting Armenia. At moments, it seems like he is understanding and empathetic towards the Armenians he encounters. At other points, he contradicts himself.
“I FIRST glimpsed Armenia from the train, early in the morning: greenish-gray rock—not mountains or crags but scree, flat deposits of stone, fields of stone. A mountain had died, its skeleton had been scattered over the ground. Time had aged the mountain; time had killed the mountain—and here lay the mountain’s bones.”
When I first began reading the book, I noted his beautiful use of wording to describe the landscape and the feeling of awe that one experiences when traveling. The words Grossman uses to describe the feeling of first stepping foot in an unknown city is electric. Through his descriptive wordplay, he creates a feeling of wanderlust in his readers. Exploring a new place sends an excitement coursing through you like no other. Yet as I kept reading on, I realized the beauty he notes in the landscape is not reciprocated in his encounters. He lacks empathy and understanding in many instances. In fact, travelers with such an offensive mindset as Grossman’s shouldn’t be in countries like Armenia at all.
Irony is embedded throughout his work. At first, Grossman notes the Armenophobic sentiments that exist in Russia and in Russian literature. Armenians are often written in as a “huckster” or “bribe-taker”. He discusses the stereotypes that are consistently applied to Armenians. This reflects a broader trend in the Caucasus, marking the harmful and anti-Armenian ideologies many nations and people hold. The way Grossman discussing Armenian livelihood, tragedy, and longing for home is with respect and strength at some points. He tells readers that each Armenian has their own characteristics and complexities. He acknowledges the persecution Armenians not only faced in the past but continue to face.
However all this being said, Grossman feels appalled by Armenian nationalism. Despite claiming to understand the systemic oppression Armenians face starting with the nation of Turkey, he is ravaged: “They matter only insofar as they testify to the superiority of the Armenian nation. Poetry itself does not matter; all that matters is to prove that Armenia’s national poet is greater than, say, the French or the Russian national poet”. Grossman chooses to interpret such frilly debates as ethnic superiority rather than acknowledge the impacts imperialist, colonialist nations have on small countries like Armenia. These world powers are not threatened by debates of Armenian artistry, and while I myself chose to not engage in such debates, I find it interesting that outsiders are so threatened by Armenian acknowledging their creators, intellectuals, and visionaries despite the hardships they’ve faced by real hyper-nationalist and oppressive states.
“It is upsetting to think that the world’s greatest literature has played its part in reinforcing this stereotype: of the Armenian as huckster, voluptuary, and bribe-taker.”
Applying a term like “national supremacy” to a small, non-imperialist entity is heinous and lacks historical/political context. What I find most humorous is that Grossman points out racist descriptions of Armenians in Russian literature, yet proceeds to feel angered when Armenians claim their literature to be better. I wonder if Grossman ever stopped and reflected as to why such hyper-nationalist sentiments arise among small nations like Armenia. If Grossman’s self-righteous Russian literature is not depicting Armenians in a proper way, then Armenians have a right to claim their own artistry as better.
To add fuel to the fire, Vasily Grossman also has some critics to make about Armenian women and their appearances. He says, “And the young women are lovely, though some of them really do have terribly big noses”. To be quite blunt, Armenian women do not care. This is not the first time eurocentric beauty standards are being reinforced on Armenians. Grossman is so quick to call out racism in Russian literature but doesn’t even identify it within himself. This is the point where I put the book down. No longer did I need to subject myself to the orientalist, patriarchal views Grossman holds on the Armenian people or our women.
I have no more words to say regarding this novel other than to not read it. It is disrespectful to Armenians, and readers are better off spending their time indulging in something more engaging.
