The new reconstruction policy in the Soviet Union, accompanied by national awakening, the Karabakh movement, and the liberation process, had a great influence on the development of Armenian literature. A new independent Armenian literature develops, which, perhaps, getting cleared of ideological strings, is in a completely new socio-political condition.
Modern Armenian literature is experiencing all the main trends in the development of world literature, adapting to the federal, socio-economic and socio-psychological realities of Armenia.
The appearance of the literature of “generation of freedom” is largely due to the wave of modernization and publicity in the USSR during 1985-1990 years. This provided an occasion for many pages of unpublished literature. Works, previously banned by censorship, are published, in particular, the works of Western Armenian writers: Charents, Bakunts, Sevak, and others. This makes it possible to analyze the problems of the heritage of writers, for various reasons excluded from the literature. In particular, the books of L. Shant, Hamastegh, Aram Aikazn, N. Agbaljan, Mushegh Ishkhani, Hakob Karapents were published, new investigations were reproduced.
In the context of publicity, more attention is paid to social issues. With the rise of the Karabakh movement, there is a growing need for a reevaluation of the historical past, with new approaches being found in the late 19th-early 20th century participants in national liberation movements, publications on the First Republic, and fiction.
Since 1991, Armenian literature has entered a new stage – the age of independence. In the early years of independence, Armenian literature had experienced a phase of experimenting, sometimes not fully understanding and appreciating the freedom of creativity. Armenian writers had to adapt to the new neo capitalism and the dictatorship of market relations when publishing their works. There was an adaptation to the requirements of the public, which changed the importance of literature as a mechanism for training, education, and development. Literature adapted to the interests of the masses.
In 2010, along with the development and publicization of the Internet and social sites, Armenian literature has completely lost its national image and developing stage. The priority was not the cultural value of the product, but the level of popularity of the author.
The former literary structure of the Writers Union of Armenia was stored with the re- equipment of freedom and national ideas. Hovhannes Tumanyan’s birthday, February 19, is declared as Book Day. In the 2000s, several events, traditionally restored during the Soviet era, were restored, such as the Children’s Literature Week, gatherings of young writers and new events dedicated to the Translators Day in Oshakan.
The bookish picture of that time was presented by many writers of the older and younger generations. In the new socio-economic era, the leadership on the development of literature was kept for a long time by H. Sakhyan, H. Kh. Matevosyan S. Kaputikyan, who died in the first years of independence.
In Armenian literature, new manifestations appeared in the Karabakh movement including the war, as well as during the ceasefire. In wartime, noticeable features of creative development were exhibited in literature, in the artistic depiction of the Karabakh war, in the accuracy of the material. After the ceasefire, years of struggle for life, documentaries, biographies depicting individual episodes of war veterans, as well as doctors, students, women, affairs, battles (Hovik Vardumyan, L. Khechoyan, Ara Nazaretyan, Maxim Hovhannisyan, Maxim Hovhannisyan, Maxim Hovhannisyan) were created.
Translated by Mariam Ispoiryan
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