For more than half a century, every Armenian student, having barely mastered his native alphabet, has memorized Silva Kaputikyan’s poem “Listen, son”. This poetess, whose works in Russian sounded in literary translations of B. Okudzhava, E. Evtushenko, B. Akhmadulina and others, made a huge contribution to the development of Armenian literature and the strengthening of cultural ties between the peoples of the former republics of the USSR.
Parents
The future poetess was born in Yerevan in 1919. She never saw her father, Barunak Kaputikyan, who died shortly before her birth from cholera. Silva's parents were refugees from the city of Van (now located in Turkey). Before World War I, Barunak worked as a teacher and was an active member of one of the oldest Armenian political parties - Dashnaktsutyun. After it became clear that the city would be surrendered by the Russian troops to the Turks, he, along with other residents who survived after the Van self-defense, left his homeland and moved to Eastern Armenia. Among the refugees was Silva Kaputikyan's mother, Leah.
Youth
In 1937, the future poetess graduated with honors from the Yerevan Krupskaya Demonstration School. Long before that, Silva Kaputikyan had already started to be published in the Pioneer Kanch newspaper, and her poem “Reply to Tumanyan” made her quite famous among Armenian youth. In 1941, she graduated from YSU Faculty of Philology and became a member of the Union of Writers of the ArmSSSSR. After 8 years, she was sent to study in Moscow, at the Higher literary courses to them. M. Gorky. There she met many young poets and prose writers from other union republics.
Social work
Silva Kaputikyan, whose biography is typical of representatives of the Soviet intelligentsia, sincerely believed in the ideas of communism. At the same time, she was engaged in active activities aimed at preserving the national identity of members of the Armenian diaspora in all corners of the planet. In particular, Silva Kaputikyan traveled to almost all countries where there were numerous organized communities consisting of refugees from Western Armenia and their descendants. Among them there were many people who achieved great success in the field of business, science and art in the countries that hosted them. Therefore, they could be useful for Soviet Armenia and the establishment of informal ties between the Soviet Union and other states.
Position on the Karabakh issue and the last years of life
During the years of Perestroika, Silva Kaputikyan, despite his age, did not remain aloof from political changes in society. She took an active position on the issue of NKR self-determination. On February 26, 1988, the poetess and writer Zoriy Balayan met with Gorbachev in order to convince him to help resolve the Karabakh issue in favor of the exclusion of Karabakh from Azerbaijan.
Since the early 1990s, Silva Kaputikyan began to sharply criticize the policies of the Armenian authorities, and after the suppression of the opposition rally in 2004, she returned the Order of St. Mesrop Mashtots, then President of the Republic of Armenia Robert Kocharian.
Creation
Kaputikyan Silva Barunakovna for her long life has created many works - both lyrical and patriotic. They were published in well-known literary magazines and in collections in the Armenian language (of which, by the way, about 60 were published). In addition, Silva Kaputikyan actively translated works of European, Soviet poets, as well as writers from the Middle East.
A family
Silva Kaputikyan was in only one short marriage. Her husband was the famous Armenian poet Hovhannes Shiraz, known for his poem “Danteakan”, dedicated to the Armenian Genocide. From this marriage in 1941 a son was born - Ara, who later became a famous sculptor.
Awards
The merits of Silva Kaputikyan were appreciated by the authorities of the ArmSSSSR, the USSR and the Republic of Armenia.
She received her first award - the Stalin Prize of the second degree - in 1952 for the collection "My Relatives." In addition, she was awarded the orders of the October Revolution, the Red Banner of Labor, the Friendship of Peoples, St. Mesrop Mashtots, Princess Olga of the III degree (Ukraine), etc.
In 1988, she was awarded the State Prize of the Armenian SSR, and 10 years later, Silva Barunakovna was awarded the title "Woman of the Year" (according to the Cambridge Geographical Institute).
Memory
Kaputikyan Silva Barunakovna (photo above) died in 2006 and is buried in the Pantheon named after Komitas. Three years later, a poetess house-museum was opened in Yerevan, where educational and cultural events are regularly held.
Recently, her work has been actively discussed by young people and literary critics. At the same time, opinions are expressed that among the Armenian poets of the same generation there were many who exceeded Kaputikyan in terms of talent, but did not deserve her laurels. Who is right, time will tell, but for now, every Armenian student can quote the lines of her famous poem about her native language.