Samuel (novel)

Samuel (Սամվել, pre-reform orthography: Սամուէլ) is an 1886 Armenian-language historical novel by the novelist Raffi. Considered by some critics his most successful work, the plot centres on the killing of the fourth-century prince Vahan Mamikonian and his wife by their son Samuel. It was first published in parts in the Tiflis newspaper in 1886–87 and released as a separate edition in 1888.

Background
Raffi wrote Samuel as a response to the closing of Armenian schools in the Russian Empire in 1885. He saw this move as an attack against the Armenian language and therefore "an attack on the very essence of the Armenian ethos and the sole bond of unity for a nation in dispersion". Raffi drew parallels between the current situation and the invasion of Armenia by Sasanian Iran in the fourth century, depicting an attempt to destroy Armenian culture and language by a foreign invader. He based his story on the historical figure of Samuel Mamikonian, who is mentioned in a few brief lines in the old Armenian histories of Faustus of Byzantium and Movses Khorenatsi. Samuel killed his father, Vahan Mamikonian, and his mother for apostasy. In order to depict fourth-century Armenia, Raffi relied on Armenian sources, his imagination, and his impressions from his travels to remote parts of Armenia, where, he supposed, less change would have occurred over the centuries.

Translations

 * English: Translated by Tashjian, J. The Armenian Review, Winter, 1948, 131–39; Spring, 1948, 144–58; Summer, 1948, 143–58; Autumn, 1948, 143–57; Spring, 1949, 142– 57; Summer, 1949, 142–55; Autumn, 1949, 142–5; Winter, 1949–50, 136–51; Spring, 1950, 135–54; Summer, 1950, 139–56; Autumn, 1950, 140–55; Winter, 1950–51, 131–55. Spring, 1951, 146–55; Summer, 1951, 138–55; Autumn, 1951, 146–58; Winter, 1951, 142–55.
 * French:
 * (Reprinted in 2014.)
 * Russian:
 * (Reprinted in 1959 and 1960.)
 * Bulgarian:
 * Estonian:
 * Ukrainian:
 * Latvian:
 * Romanian:
 * Ukrainian:
 * Latvian:
 * Romanian: