«Մնալ ուրիշ» - Մարկ ՆՇԱՆՅԱՆ

Marc Nichanian's article is devoted to the reflection on his own path as a diaspora Armenian intellectual, shaped at the intersection of the French academic tradition and the Armenian-language literary culture of the spyurk, as well as to the experience of his later work in American Armenian studies and in contemporary Turkey.

Introduction and methodology
The text is an autobiographical reflection constructed as a sequential tracing of the stages of the author's intellectual formation — from his youthful fascination with Armenian literature in Paris to his teaching at universities in the USA, Lebanon, and Turkey. Nichanian avoids abstract theoretical constructions, giving preference to personal testimony and to accounts of encounters with people who determined his path.

Key thesis: fidelity and rivalry
The author distinguishes two types of formative encounters of his youth:
• his acquaintance with writers of the first generation of the Parisian spyurk (Nigoghos Sarafian, Zareh Vorpouni) — relationships based on fidelity to the chosen path and on continuing their work;
• his interaction with fellow intellectuals of his generation from Beirut (Krikor Beledian, Harout Kurkjian) — relationships of a rather competitive nature, which stimulated professional growth.

America as a space of recognition
The move to the United States (UCLA, then Columbia University) is described as a moment that made it possible to unite the philosophical and Armenological sides of the author's activity and to gain professional recognition for work that, in France, had remained marginal and unpaid. It is noted that American departments of Armenian studies exist thanks to private Armenian donations rather than state policy.

Spyurk literature and the Catastrophe
A separate place is devoted to the theme of the weak representation of contemporary Armenian literature and the literature of the spyurk within academic Armenian studies — the author considers changing this situation to be one of the main goals of his work. The fates of four twentieth-century writers (Yeghishe Charents, Gurgen Mahari, Zabel Yesayan, Vahan Totovents) are examined, united by their contradictory relationship to Soviet power and their tragic deaths, despite the nationalist accusations leveled against them posthumously. The case of Mahari is analyzed in detail, who was forced to rewrite the novel «Այրվող այգեստանները» [The Burning Orchards] under pressure of demands for patriotism — an episode interpreted as an example of the destructive effect of nationalism on a creative individual.

Works and translation work
The author characterizes his own books — the three-volume «l'Art et le Témoignage», studies on Oshagan, Varoujan, Charents — as an attempt to simultaneously present Armenian literature to the French- and English-speaking reader through analysis and extensive translations, including fragments of the complex language of Hagop Oshagan's novel «Մնացորդաց» [The Remnants].

The Turkish experience
A significant part of the text is devoted to the experience of teaching and giving public lectures in Istanbul (Boğaziçi and Sabancı universities), where the author discovers a new intellectual reality — a milieu of Kurdish and leftist intellectuals independent of state ideology, showing considerable interest in the theme of the Catastrophe and in Armenian literature.

The key conclusion of the article is that the fate of the diaspora Armenian intellectual is inseparably linked to the task of preserving and introducing the literary heritage of the spyurk into academic circulation, as well as to the search for new forms of dialogue — including with contemporary Turkey — as a condition for the further existence and recognition of this culture.