Starting from the second half of the 19th century, Western Armenian literary life and publishing activities experienced significant development,particularly in two Armenian-populated cities of Ottoman Turkey – Constantinople and Smyrna. The Armenian press in these cities undertook the important task of raising national, political, and literary issues for public discussion. The Constantinopolitan Armenian press successfully pursued its goals of raising public awareness, transforming conservative ideas, and fostering rapprochement between Eastern and Western Armenians. This last aim was especially significant, as Armenians from these two parts were not only politically separated –with Echmiadzin being their only link - but also linguistically and culturally estranged from one another. During the 1880s, the Armenian press in Constantinople, particularly the "Masis" periodical, began to engage with Russian literature. The editors of "Masis", A. Arpiaryan and L. Bashalyan, authored studies on Russian literary classics such as F. Dostoevsky, I. Turgenev, and M. Lermontov. The periodical also published full or partial translations of works by Russian authors (M. Lermontov, P. Zubov). Western Armenian authors were primarily interested in Russian literature because of its influence on Eastern Armenian literature, but their interest also had political motivations. The literary tastes and artistic methods preferred by Western Armenian realist writers of the 1880s were also shaped by Russian literature.
Tamara Andreasyan (Wed,) studied this question.
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