The Russian History Seminar events take place on selected Friday afternoons, 5-6:15 pm, Georgetown University ICC 662, unless otherwise noted. All discussions are based on article-length texts pre-circulated one to two weeks in advance. Light refreshments are served. Those interested in receiving notification by email and/or participating should contact Prof. Michael David-Fox.
December 4, Georgetown University, Department of History, ICC 662 – 5:00 -6:15 p.m. Mikail Mamedov, Georgetown University, Ph.D. 2000, will present a paper “Reading Akram Aylisli “Stone Dreams” on the 100 Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide”
The paper analyzes significance of the Stone Dreams novel by the famous Azeri writer Akram Aylisli. The writer published his work in the Russian literary journal Druzhba Narodov (Friendship of the People) in December 2012. The author refers to the massacre committed by Turkish troops during the Genocide of 1915-1923, when Turkish commander Adif Bey ordered the mass execution of the Armenians population in the authors’ home village (town) Aylis, [Agulis] on Christmas of 1919. The novel also condemned anti-Armenian pogroms in the cities of Baku and Sumgait at the end of the 1980s. The novel caused mass outrage in Azerbaijan, including demonstrations in front of the author’s house, public burning of the writer’s books and accusation in treason.