ARI Press has published Ruben Filyan's novel - The Ambassador of Your Country

ARI Literature Foundation has published Ruben Filyan’s novel The Ambassador of Your Country. It had been published in 1992 with some reductions but this time the original version of the work is presented to the reader.

Ruben Filyan was born in 1952 in Yerevan, has graduated from Yerevan State University, faculty of journalism. His first novel, The Unknown Autobiography, was published in 1980. Ruben Filyan has also translated into Armenian Shri Shankaracharya’s Vivekachudamani.

At the end of 70s Ruben Filyan manages to flee from the Soviet Armenia. He leaves for France, then travels to  Egypt, Jordan, then settles in India, Goa, where he teaches yoga, karate, music and eastern philosophy. Ruben Filyan dies on January 6, 1983, when he is axed on the shore of the Arambol lake.

The novel starts with the scene where the story-teller appears in the museum of Armenian History and sees a remarkable drawing picturing the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, his aide, and people standing with their backs to each other. It turns out that the picture dates back to the beginning of the century. In order to get the country out of a difficult situation, Armenians (in his novel Filyan always uses the word our countrymen) meet Churchill. However, the Prime Minister of the UK does not understand very well who the newcomers are and where they come from. Churchill instructs his assistant to find out the location of that country and collect materials about the life and history of people living in that country.

The novel The Ambassador of Your Country would remain unpublished until the collapse of the Soviet Union – it was not possible to have poetry in novels – the truth of the poem was unacceptable – in the novel, a carriage was passing through Armenian land – there was no road – the road was created by the carriage – and the wheels of the carriage would not tell, but would recreate the history of Armenia – it was the desire to create the history of the people – the carriage was carrying the desire to create the past and the future of the country and its people.