Quick Facts
Biography
Yervant Odian (Armenian: Երվանդ Օտյան or Երուանդ Օտեան) (Constantinople, Turkey, 19 September 1869 – Egypt 1926) is considered to be one of the most influential Armenian satirists, along with the roughly contemporary Hagop Baronian. Odian's writings, which include novels and short stories, often humorously point out humanity's vices. He had the unique ability to conceive of and write stories at any given instant.
In 1915, during the Armenian Genocide Yervant Odian was deported from Istanbul to the Syrian desert. He was able to avoid falling victim by becoming a translator for German officials in Deir ez-Zor since he knew French and Turkish. In 1918, after World War I, he took up the responsibility of collecting orphans left over from deportations in the deserts of Syria and placing them in orphanages. His only real source of income was through his writing. He left Constantinople in 1922 and lived in Bucharest and various location the Near East. Odian spent the last days of his life in Cairo, Egypt where he was buried.
Works
- Accursed Years. My Exile and Return from Der Zor, 1914-1919, Garod Books, London 2009
- Comrade Clueless (Ընկեր Փանջունի), Constantinople, from 1914 on (several books)
(also a Turkish edition published as 'Yoldaş Pançuni' by Aras Pub.in 2008) ISBN 978-975-7265-32-0
- Twelve Years Out of Istanbul. 1896-1908 (Տասներկու Տարի Պոլսէն Դուրս. 1896-1908), Constantinople 1922 (Reminiscences)