Desirable Ways to Conceive According to a New Literary Program: Seyran Grigoryan

The Chair of Modern Armenian Literature at Yerevan State University, Seyran Grigoryan, recently shared on his Facebook page:

“Desirable ways to conceive according to a new literary program. Just days ago, I inadvertently promoted a contemporary prose writer. Quite a few people learned that such a writer exists in the world, and many read his work.

As the struggle continues, today I have decided to address a poetess. Last time, I deliberately included a section from another writing by Armen Ohanyan - a piece that was not planned for school programs. The thing is, I could not write the anti-aesthetic, bathroom-sexual segments of the story 'The Return of Kikos' by hand, and with lesser disgust, I included a ‘milder’ segment from a non-program work instead.

By the way, readers found those disgusting segments of the story 'The Return of Kikos' and published their comments on them. The story still remains on the literary list of the ignorant and arrogant minister and his team, who are engaged in 'manipulations' (their favorite word).

And now, on the same list, already in the 11th-grade section, is the poem 'The Girl Who Keeps Bees' by contemporary poetess Hasmik Simonian. The lyrical heroine, speaking of her mother, states:

“In her cookbook from afar,
There are successful lines from Sevan,
Excerpts from B. Prus's 'The Doll',
And one can find instructions
On how to make a mikado and how to calculate the days
For conceiving a child of the desired gender.”

I am told that why I cut out one segment from the context (the background), isn’t that manipulation? I could now demonstrate all aspects of that writing with a fifty-page analysis. But the space I have and the nature of the struggle dictate being as concise as possible.

Thus, the minister and his poor, incapable team require that students 'explain the text both in context and out of context' in the 11th-grade criteria. Now, the manipulators will say that this poem is included in the optional reading list. Yes, but that’s part of the program too. A teacher caught instructing his class to read this poem and discuss it in class—especially 'out of context'. What should 16-17 year old girls and especially boys say about suitable days for conceiving?

Please help these poor children.

P.S. 1. To the manipulative minister and his manipulative defenders, I would like to inform that I have never composed and will never compose a school program or textbook. I also want to inform the same ignorant people that the idea that only teachers can talk about this program and make suggestions is foolishness. First, we have a teacher of Armenian language at home, and I could have quietly stayed out of it, putting you in a much more awkward position. At least because our home teacher is the person who has read the most books in all of Armenia.

Secondly, if a minister, who was once a lecturer, doesn’t know, for example, the difference between a teacher of the same specialty and a lecturer according to the Prime Minister, nothing will save him and his government.

P.S. 2. To not completely ignore the context, I will include the original of Hasmik Simonian’s poem in the first comment.”