LONDON/NEW YORK—I. B. Tauris, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing, has announced the publication of Zabel Yesayan’s “The Agony of a People: Haig Toroyan’s Eyewitness Account of the Armenian Genocide.” The account, translated by Arakel Minassian (University of Michigan) and Drs. Tamar Boyadjian (Stanford University) and Maral Aktomakyan (independent scholar), is part of the series “Armenians in the Modern and Early Modern World,” edited by Bedross Der Matossian (University of Nebraska, Lincoln).
The book project was led by Jennifer Langley, the great-niece of Haig Toroyan, and co-edited by Tamar Boyadjian and Maral Aktomakyan. It features an article by Aktomakyan titled “Translating Hokevark or the Untranslatable Life-form: A Prefatory Attempt Among Prefaces,” a historical background by Prof. Elyse Semerdjian (Clark University) titled “Between the Lines: Haig Toroyan’s Testimony and the Armenian Genocide,” and an Afterword by renowned literary critic Prof. Marc Nichanian (independent scholar) titled “Testimony and Authorship: Zabel Yesayan’s The Agony of a People,” translated by Tamar Boyadjian.
Haig Toroyan’s account of his journey from Dikranagerd (Diyarbakir in modern-day southeastern Turkey) along the Euphrates River to Mesopotamia and Iran is a unique and hauntingly detailed account of the Armenian Genocide of 1915.
Recounting first the ominous final months of 1914, Toroyan is employed in Jarabalus by a sympathetic German Army Sergeant, Otto Oehlmann, as his assistant and interpreter, on a mission to transport arms to Iran. Posing as a Syrian Catholic Arab, Toroyan keeps notes on the atrocities he sees being committed against his own people but knows he cannot reveal his true ethnicity. Toroyan records the stories of the refugees he meets, as well as the conversations he can have with Turkish soldiers, unaware they are speaking with an Armenian.
In the summer of 1916, Haig Toroyan told his story to celebrated Armenian writer Zabel Yessayan, who had herself escaped from the round-up of intellectuals in Istanbul in April 1915. Yessayan published his testimony in 1917 in Western Armenian.
With this translation, Toroyan’s testimony, the first full-length eyewitness account of the Armenian Genocide ever published in Armenian in the wake of 1915, is available in English for the first time.
Jennifer Langley remarked, “Publishing my great uncle’s testimony in English, over 100 years after it was first published in Western Armenian, is a triumph. “The Agony of a People” is significant not only for our family but also for scholars of the Armenian Genocide. It also represents an important addition to the translated works of Zabel Yesayan, exploring the fine line between the historical and the literary.”
According to Boyadjian and Aktomakyan, Zabel Yesayan’s “The Agony of a People,” with her firsthand recording of Haig Toroyan’s experiences, stands as a unique and powerful historical account. They stated, “We approached the editing of this translation with a profound sense of responsibility and immense respect for her original work. Recognizing the delicate balance between preserving the authenticity of the testimony and ensuring its clarity for contemporary English readers, we undertook this task with deep dedication. It was a privilege to be part of a team that helped bring this vital work to a wider readership. We thank Jen Langley for entrusting us with this task.”
“What makes this work unique is not only its detailed first-hand account of the Armenian Genocide but also the fact that it was shared with and written by one of the foremost literary figures in Armenian literature, Zabel Yesayan,” said Der Matossian, the editor of the series. “This first-ever translation of Tonoyan’s account is a significant and invaluable contribution to both Armenian Genocide Studies and Armenian literature as a whole.”
“Minassian delivers a hauntingly beautiful English translation of this important document that at once shocks and moves its readers to confront the unspeakable atrocities witnessed by Haig Toroyan, who traversed several deportation routes during the Armenian genocide. First recorded by the prolific writer Zabel Yesayan, Toroyan’s testimony arrives here to the Anglophone world in the raw and unfiltered quality of its original, which itself mimics the urgency of the oral account. Agony of a People will become an invaluable source for scholars of genocide, trauma, and Armenian studies,” said Talar Chahinian, a Professor at the University of California, Irvine.
Zabel Yesayan was a renowned Armenian writer and intellectual, celebrated for her powerful literary contributions and activism. Her works, including the poignant “In the Ruins,” provide a vivid account of the Adana Massacres of 1909, where thousands of Armenians were killed in the Ottoman Empire. Yesayan’s writings reflect her deep empathy for the Armenian people, focusing on themes of survival, identity, and the impact of violence. As a passionate advocate for women’s rights and social justice, she also played a key role in the cultural and intellectual life of her time. Despite facing political persecution, her legacy endures as a vital voice in Armenian literature and history.
Paperback and hardback copies of “The Agony of a People: Haig Toroyan’s Eyewitness Account of the Armenian Genocide” are available for purchase from the Bloomsbury Press website. Enter code GLR AT8 at the checkout on bloomsbury.com for 35 percent off.
