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Prof. Dr. Vachagan Grigoryan

My scientific interests are not limited to history of literature. My work always includes comparisons. I try to find a connection between Armenian and foreign literature.

In my scholarly work I focus on the German heroic epos "Niebelungenlied" as one of the outstanding works of Western civilisation. At present it is obvious that the Western world ist the bearer of personal mentality and psychology, and the Eastern world is that of general mentality and psychology. German culture as individualistic philosophy stands out with this important feature. From this viewpoint, the comparative study of “Nibelungenlied” and the Armenian epos “Sasna Tsrer” is extremely interesting, and this study will reveal similarities and differences between the East and the West.

Secondly, in the field of 17th century German literature, I am very interested in Andreas Gryphius and his poetry especially for the fact that he is the greatest poet of that time. But the literary works “Leo Armenius” and “Catharina von Georgien” are especially important to me, and these works require a special study.

Beside that I am interested in Levon Shant, one of the best playwrights of the early 20th century Armenian literature. He visited Germany in 1892 to study  German dramaturgy. I am particularly interested in the works written by Gerhart Hauptmann in the beginning of the 20th century - the plays “Die versunkene Glocke”, “Der arme Heinrich”, “Einsame Menschen”, “Winterballade”, “Der weiße Heiland”, “Indipohdi”, the novels “Der Ketzer von Soana”, “Die Inselder großen Mutter”, and the epos “Der große Traum”. A separate aspect is the interrelation between Hauptmann and expressionism. Without this, it is impossible to have a complete portrait of this artist.

Goethe had a major impact on the world of literature. Armenian literature was also influenced by this impact. And this influence is especially obvious in the works of the following three writers - the great poets Avetik Isahakyan, Yeghishe Charents and the author of Armenian prose Derenik Demirchyan. There is a need to study the topics of Goethe’s works in their diversity and how these topics are being reflected in the literary works of the mentioned Armenian writers. But I am especially interested in the symbolic poetics of Goethe. Particularly his prose becomes a generalizing symbol for the image of the world and its perception.