Spring Break
Renowned author discusses Armenian persecution in book, movie
Chris Curtis
Issue date: 10/23/08 Section: Campus
10/23/08 - Author Antonia Arslan described the massacre of her extended family in Turkey to a crowded auditorium at the University of Rhode Island Monday as part of a two day event.
Arslan's grandfather told her at a young age the story of his brother's family. In 1915, Turkish soldiers massacred the males of the family at the ancestral family farm. They sent the women and children on a forced march across the desert.
Two girls and a young boy, who survived because he had been dressed as a girl, were rescued and smuggled to Italy by friends. The children's mother died during the course of the march and their eldest sister was killed because they were of Armenian descent.
Arslan said she forgot about the story for many years, but continued to collect memories of the family and of Armenian culture. Eventually, Arslan felt compelled to convey the story through a book that was later made into a movie.
"At a certain point everything went together and I understood the story in the hearts of these souls," she said. "The bones abandoned in the desert of Syria were speaking to me, and I heard them."
From her grandfather's story, Arslan crafted a novel that has spread across the world and been translated into 16 languages. On Tuesday, she screened the Italian film "La Masseria Delle Allodole," based on her novel of the same name.
Shown through special permission, the 2007 movie, translated into English as "Skylark Farm," was produced by internationally-respected Italian directors Paolo and Vitorrio Tavianni.
Arslan said the film, which has not been released in the United States, closely follows the plot of the novel and is true to her intentions.
Called "an Armenian Schindler's List" by critics, Arslan's novel follows her family's struggles during the 1915 Armenian Genocide.
During World War I, Turkey's ruling ultra-nationalist Young Turks party sought to create an exclusively Turkish nation. The campaign against the civilian Armenian population, a Christian ethnic minority within the empire, ended in their virtual eradication within the country by 1923, according to the Armenian National Institute.
Arslan's grandfather told her at a young age the story of his brother's family. In 1915, Turkish soldiers massacred the males of the family at the ancestral family farm. They sent the women and children on a forced march across the desert.
Two girls and a young boy, who survived because he had been dressed as a girl, were rescued and smuggled to Italy by friends. The children's mother died during the course of the march and their eldest sister was killed because they were of Armenian descent.
Arslan said she forgot about the story for many years, but continued to collect memories of the family and of Armenian culture. Eventually, Arslan felt compelled to convey the story through a book that was later made into a movie.
"At a certain point everything went together and I understood the story in the hearts of these souls," she said. "The bones abandoned in the desert of Syria were speaking to me, and I heard them."
From her grandfather's story, Arslan crafted a novel that has spread across the world and been translated into 16 languages. On Tuesday, she screened the Italian film "La Masseria Delle Allodole," based on her novel of the same name.
Shown through special permission, the 2007 movie, translated into English as "Skylark Farm," was produced by internationally-respected Italian directors Paolo and Vitorrio Tavianni.
Arslan said the film, which has not been released in the United States, closely follows the plot of the novel and is true to her intentions.
Called "an Armenian Schindler's List" by critics, Arslan's novel follows her family's struggles during the 1915 Armenian Genocide.
During World War I, Turkey's ruling ultra-nationalist Young Turks party sought to create an exclusively Turkish nation. The campaign against the civilian Armenian population, a Christian ethnic minority within the empire, ended in their virtual eradication within the country by 1923, according to the Armenian National Institute.
