The TV presentation of Andreï Makine's book “My Armenian Friend” (video)

According to Gnel Nalbandian, the editor-in-chief of the publishing house, Newmag presents not a random book, but a story dealing with the themes of historical tragedy. The reader will find the attitude of the civilized world about the worries and dreams of Armenians in this book.

“People found themselves in another area with their own culture, their civilization, where life had no value. The man himself was a worthless screw. All this is seen by a young man, who gets to know another young man, an Armenian, and finds out that apart from the violence of Siberia, and that hard work, there is also another fairy-tale world, which, unfortunately, does not always have its own “the reader of the fairy tale”. I would rather have us look at this book in terms of the contrast between civilization and savagery, the wild environment contrasted with the civilized environment, and the sentence of imprisonment. This is a tough story. Civilization wins in fairy tales; in real life it all takes turns. That's life, it's just that in the long run, we want to believe that civilization will win”.

According to Ani Avetyan, a journalist and TV anchor present at the TV presentation, there is definitely a political context and message in Makine's book, and the writer also stated in several interviews and conversations that what he presented in the book is based on a real story and happened to him.

"With this book, Newmag puts another historical mirror before us. First, to show ourselves in what condition Armenians can find themselves if they don't have a state, if they are persecuted and try to fight for their rights, not having a state and being in the status of the periphery of the empire. There are details in this book that are not even mentioned in the pages of Armenian historiography. To give an example, what is happening now in Artsakh, we know about the murders of children, but people who were present are upset that we ask a question about painful topics. It's difficult to talk about this”.

The repressions presented in the book “My Armenian Friend” took place during the Soviet years, when any published literature was controlled. Now this is Newmag's attempt to put a high-quality historical mirror in front of us, to translate and present a book that allows us to look a little further and understand what could happen to us because we are facing the same threat today.

Head of the Armenian-Russian series “Oracle” Ruben Ishkhanyan notices that Makine, being Russian, created a unique language in French literature. “Having Russian roots and being from Russia, the writer introduced Russian breath, and Russian spirit into the French language. Makine is a very famous person in France, and knowing his human profile, people know that it is a book written from the heart. If Azerbaijanis order such books with lobbyist money, this was not the case with Makine. Makine simply has many Armenian friends, and knowing different stories, he was inspired and wrote this book. And in general, a real writer cannot be far from politics or history, that is, when someone raises topics, of course, he does research and then writes a book”.

Things happen very fast and in tandem. The book is read in one breath because Makine presented himself with all his professionalism.