The Story of the Last Thought

The work of The Tale of the last thoughts of the German writer Edgar Hilsenrath is the genocide of the Armenians in 1915. Written in the form of a fairy tale and with numerous award-winning epic is considered one of the most important literary works on this historic event. In 2006 the poet was awarded the prize of the President of the Republic of Armenia for the work.

Content

The Tale of the last thought is the story of an Anatolian village that is destroyed by the Turks. Main character of the novel is the Armenian Vartan Khatisian, whose son Thovma is dying. His last thought - the last thought of a man, it is said in the fairy tale, stand outside of time - the story of his ancestors is narrated the suffering of the Armenian people. The storyteller Meddah performs the final thoughts Thovmas along the traces of life of his father, which lead from a small idyllic mountain village in the torture chambers of the Turkish rulers, and makes him a witness of the great pogrom against the Armenians in 1915.

Awards

For his epic The Tale of the last thoughts of the poet has received numerous honors. 1989 presented him with Günter Grass the prestigious Alfred Döblin Prize. In 2006, the President of the Republic of Armenia, where Hilsenrath is celebrated as a national hero drew him with the Armenian National Prize for Literature. Also in 2006 Hilsenrath received an honorary doctorate from the Yerevan State University for his work.

Reception and debate

Following the initial report in 1989, the critic Alexander von Bormann wrote in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, with reference to The Forty Days of Musa Dagh by Franz Werfel, who had previously been considered the best Armenian novel of world literature: " But I find Hilse Raths novel superior to Werfel's important: he is a historical and poetic at the same time. "

Manfred Orlick ruled: " Again and again, it was said: so you can not write about this topic. The author has, however, managed to break down the atrocities in countless short dialogues, they portray a touching manner and to convey historical facts. An inhuman storybook as it can probably only write Hilsenrath. "