PARIS–French-Armenian author and intellectual Jean-Jacques Varoujean passed away on April 2–in his home in Paris. The author of such plays as A plus–La Voleuse d’histoires–and A L’autre Bout Du Pont–Varoujean was born Varoujean Ouzounian in Marseilles in 1927–to immigrant Armenian parents.
Varoujean is undoubtedly one of the rare French Armenian authors; Armenia’s know little about his work and even less about the man. Jean-Jacques Varoujean had said–"There is in me a great contradiction: I am an anti-nationalist–but I wish that justice is returned to the Armenian nation."
Like so many other artists or intellectuals–he did not hesitate to give an opinion in a clear and committed way about Armenian political problems.
A great admirer of Levon Shant–Varoujean translated and adapted his masterpiece–the Former Gods (Heen Asdvadzner). "The theater plays an essential role to awaken the conscience–to help to keep the eyes about good and evil. From the very start of the century–with the Former Gods–an Armenian author dared to announce something as it is," Varoujean had written.