Vahe Oshagan; Poet Gave Voice to the Armenian Experience

Vahe Oshagan, 78, critically acclaimed Armenian-language poet. He was famed in Armenian intellectual circles for his eight volumes of poetry, six volumes of fiction and many short stories, plays and commentaries. Most of his works were written in Armenian but some have been translated into English. Some scholars saw him as the most important poet of his generation, particularly because he took the revolutionary step of rejecting the imposed formality of traditional Armenian poetry and instead writing in colloquial language. He was also respected for giving a voice to the Armenian diaspora. Born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Oshagan grew up in Cyprus and Jerusalem and earned a doctorate in comparative literature at the Sorbonne in Paris. He taught and wrote for many years in Lebanon, but moved to the U.S. during the advent of the civil war there and taught Armenian language, history and culture from 1976 to 1982 at the University of Pennsylvania. Oshagan’s 1980 poem “Ahazank” (Alert) includes several street scenes and landmarks of Philadelphia. On June 30 in Philadelphia of complications after heart surgery.