Position:

Calouste Gulbenkian Professor of Armenian Studies; Fellow Of Pembroke College

Faculty / College Address:

Oriental Institute / Pembroke College

Email:

theo.vanlint@orinst.ox.ac.uk

Research Interests:

• Armenian poetry
• Medieval Armenian literature
• Armenian literary and intellectual life in Iran, India, the Ottoman Empire and Russia in the 17th-19th centuries
• Modern Armenian literature and its international context from the 19th century onward

Current Projects:

• Ashough Poetry and Storytelling: Asli and Kearam. In cooperation with Ms Vergine Gulbenkian, a storyteller from Oxford.
• Kostandin Erznkac’i (13th-14th c.) his poems and his environment
• Grigor Tghay, poet and Catholicos (1133-1193)
  An important aspect of my research interest concerns the different elements of the richly varied Armenian poetic tradition, religious and secular, oral and written, ancient, medieval and modern, as well as in its development, its contact with other traditions and the ways in which it views itself.
• The Letters of Grigor Magistros Pahlavuni (985-1058): Critical edition with translation and commentary. In cooperation with Dr Anna Sirinian, Bologna
  Grigor Magistros Pahlavuni (985-1059) was an erudite layman whose epistolary is a mine of information on theology, literature, mythology, politics and othermatters. The letters are written in an often complex language. Their re-edition with translation and commentary is a desideratum in Armenian studies and is of importance for adjacent fields as well.
• The reception of the throne vision of Ezekiel in Armenian literature and art:
  Vardan Anec’i’s Panegyric on the Divine Chariot (10th-11th c.): Translation and commentary;
  Esayi Nchec’i’s Commentary on the Book of Ezekiel (1303): Critical edition,  translation and study.
  The prophet Ezekiel's vision at the river Chebar in Babylon has given rise to mystical and political interpretations in Armenia, expressed in biblical commentaries, poems, manuscript illuminations and other works of art for over a millennium.

Courses Taught:

(Not all courses indicated are currently taught, others are available upon consultation)

• Classical Armenian
• Middle Armenian
• Modern Eastern Armenian
• Modern Western Armenian
• History of Armenian Literature
• Armenian Poetry
• M.St and M.Phil. set texts
• Armenian Codicology and Palaeography
• Convenor: Armenian Studies Seminar (see also under Other Information)

Recent Publications:

• “The Miniature of Ezekiel’s Throne Vision in the Erznka Bible of 1269 (J1925) and its Textual Background”, FS contribution (Forthcoming 2011), c. 9000 words
• “A Matean Ołbergut‘ean by Grigor Tłay? On the Reception of the Narek in Cilicia”, FS contribution (forthcoming 2011), c. 7000 words
• “Medieval Poetic Texts”, in Valentina Calzolari & Michael E. Stone (eds.), Philology (Handbook of Armenian Studies, vo l. 5), Brill: Leiden (Forthcoming 2011), c. 10000 words
• “Vardan Anetsi’s Poem on the Divine Chariot and the Four Living Creatures (Xth-XIth Century)” (The Throne Vision of Ezekiel in Armenian Literature and Art III), in Richard G. Hovannisian (ed.) Ani-Kars (Historic Armenian Cities and Provinces Series), Costa Mesa: Mazda Publishers (forthcoming 2010), c. 5000 words
• “The Armenian MS Book” in Michael Suarez and Henry Woudhuysen (eds.). The Oxford Companion to the Book, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010, 379-80.
• “The Treaty of Turkmenchai, 1828. Russian and Armenian Perceptions”, in M. Branch (ed.), Defining Self. Essays on emergent identities in Russia. Seventeenth to Nineteenth Centuries Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society, 2009, 96-116.
• “The Formation of Armenian Identity in the First Millenium”, Church History and Religious Culture, 2009 (vol. 89, 1-3), 251-78.

Further Info:

Recent Activities:

14-28 March 2010
Lecture Series
MEDIEVAL ARMENIAN POETRY IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
Prof. Sandford Budick Visiting Scholar in Literary Studies
Hebrew University of Jerusalem

8-9 December 2009
LA NAISSANCE ET LE DÉVELOPPEMENT DE LA LYRIQUE D’AMOUR EN ARMÉNIEN: LANGUE, THÈMES ET CONTEXTES INTERNATIONAUX
Leçon magistrale, Table Ronde sur la poésie d’amour médievale, Centre de Recherches Médievales, Université de Genève

LA POÉSIE D’AMOUR DE KOSTANDIN ERZNKAC‘I ET LES HAYRĒNS
Séminaire sur la poésie en moyen arménien, Centre de recherches arménologiques, Université de Genève

26-27 November 2009
I MONGOLI NELLA POESIA ARMENA MEDIEVALE
I Mongoli in Armenia: storia e immaginario, Seminario internazionale,
Università di Bologna

16 November 2009
GODS, KINGS AND THE BELOVED:
SOME ASPECTS OF MEDIEVAL ARMENIAN POETRY
SOAS, Armenian Studies Programme

25-27 September 2009
A HANDBOOK OF ARMENIAN LITERATURE &
LYRICAL POETRY: GUSANS, TAŁASAC‘NER, AŠUŁS, AND OTHERS
AIEA Workshop on Armenian Literature, St Anne’s College, University of Oxford, organised in preparation of a volume on Armenian Literature as part of a Handbook of Armenian Studies (convenor).

Affiliations:

Pembroke College
http://www.pmb.ox.ac.uk/

AIEA (Association Internationale des Études Arméniennes), secretary
http://aiea.fltr.ucl.ac.be

Armenian Institute (London), chairman, Board of Trustees
http://www.armenianinstitute.org.uk/