Azkayin Chocher (Hagop Baronian, 1880)
Name/Title
Azkayin Chocher (Hagop Baronian, 1880)Secondary Title
Ազգային ՋոջերDescription
Hagop Baronian, a prominent 19th-century Ottoman Armenian satirist, is renowned for his sharp critiques of societal figures in Constantinople. His work “Azkayin Chocher” (“National Bigshots”) exemplifies this, offering biting, sarcastic portrayals of leading individuals in Armenian social circles. Baronian’s talent for presenting truth through satire is most evident in his portraits of prominent national figures—individuals who played a key role in the social, political, economic, and cultural life of Western Armenians in the late 19th century. The moral behavior of these individuals, according to Baronian, directly influenced the quality of public and national life. Hagop Baronian’s “National Bigshots” first appeared in his satirical newspaper Tadron in 1874, starting with Parunak Utujian’s portrait. The series continued until 1876, when censorship and pressure from the Patriarchate, government, and the “National Bigshots” was forced its interruption. In 1879, Baronian revived the series in the newspaper Luys, republishing eight rewritten biographies. The full collection was published as a separate book in 1880. Baronian began using the title “National Bigshots” when he published the collection of satirical biographies as a separate book in 1880. This is a first edition of the second volume.Category
Books