Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Vitaly Ignatenko, Director General of "ITAR-TASS"
We are attending the presentation of a remarkable book, written by my friend, Robert Yengibaryan.
I'll tell about the author, but first I want to speak about the book.
As they say, if a book is standing like this, it is outstanding.
I want to say that this book is outstanding.
I am one of the first readers and one of the first people to hear about this book when Robert just started working on it.
I understand that he mentioned some thoughts from it to me, probably checking them -
whether he finds the necessary style, whether he chooses the tone of this piece right.
Therefore I have known this book for a long time, not since today.
I think that if we, when you read it, if we now look at the big layer of the history of our country,
which is exciting - since 1959, these were the years of serious changes, tectonic changes.
Not only the country changed - people also changed, as well as their characters.
It seems as if it was yesterday - after all, in 1959 we already knew each other, George Ter-Gazaryants made a huge contribution to the life of his republic -
Armenia, he was already a famous person.
But when you read it all and when you see this period through the characters that are great,
in my opinion, you understand that all this seems to happen yesterday,
and all the time you see yourself thinking that it was happening to you.
And in fact, this happened, perhaps, to each of us, and above all this was happening to the country.
I think that the main idea of the book is not a choice of man's path, his destiny,
but the choices the circumstances always put before him, and each person is free to do what he wants
- to do the right thing, maybe, or the wrong one, and he thinks it's the right move.
But the big choices of their own destiny are, in my opinion, the privilege of people who were very well behaved,
understood their lives very well, were fast friends, and their life was righteous.
And if so, then the choice will be right and accurate, it may not always bring you some fruit, and maybe just the opposite.
Anatoli Torkunov, Rector of MGIMO
Any work by Robert Yengibaryan is always a very interesting work, whether it is a serious book,
or a publication in a newspaper, or a presentation to colleagues.
This is evidence that he is a creative person, and not just creative - a man with a very strong character.
I must say frankly that, like the readers of Solzhenitsyn,
I had not read the book - just yesterday he gave it to me after I returned from a business trip on Sunday evening.
But I was able to scroll through it and read the introduction and some pieces of the chapters.
And I want to say that across the book everyone can see your character, dear Robert.
And there is even one little sense, though the book is written in a good Russian language:
I feel your peculiar accent, sometimes a bit tough.
For instance, the scene in the "Lear" cafe after the arrival of the protagonist at the Moscow prosecutor's office is splendid!
First of all, it is interesting and it looks even, I would say, like an adventure novel.
On the other hand, this is quite exciting, because it is clear that so many years have passed,
and this episode is so etched in memory, that it is now gripping not only you,
but also the reader, to whom this book is addressed.
I think that, really, this is a chronicle of a generation, and, perhaps, of a generation that I know less about,
not because I am a little younger, but because after all, this book is written by a man who came to Moscow,
and he arrived in Moscow from Armenia - not just out of some Russian cities but from Armenia,
where there were their own traditions, and their own understanding of the world, and their own childhood,
which was different from the childhood in Moscow -
I cannot say , for the worse or for the better, but it was different.
Therefore, the perception of life in Moscow, the perception of the external world,
is not something that is different from the point of view of a judgement or aesthetic perception,
but it is seen through different eyes.
And this is great, because it enriches our understanding and our vision of life that we live almost together,
at one time, maturing and gaining advantages and, of course, disadvantages that come with age,
but at the same time getting our titles and regalia.
Thank you for this, really.
I knew that Robert is an industrious man,
but I did not expect him to write such a heavy book in terms of weight and such a fascinating novel in terms of plot.
He has intrigued me for a long time – for example, he said, "Well, I’m writing a book, it should be fascinating".
I thought this was a little joke.
But I must say that, even now, in the car while driving - now you drive long, as something it is quite difficult to drive -
I quickly tried to catch up.
Indeed, it's interesting.
I advise everyone to not only take this book, but, as one of my friends says:
"The author is remarkable not only because he wrote the book, but because he read his book."
So, I advise everyone to not only take this book today but then to read it.
I am sure that, like me, you will enjoy, and I look forward to the pleasure
I will get after reading the chapter about the meeting in "Lear"
and about your trip to theatres and museums with two lovely girls.
So I heartily congratulate Robert Yengibaryan and I want, my friends,
to read the following saying: today we inaugurated the bust of Confucius,
I found the sayings of Confucius, because the ambassador arrived,
and I saw a saying "He who learns without thinking will fall into error.
He who thinks, not wanting to learn, will be in trouble.
These words are not about Robert, because he is constantly learning and thinking.
Robert Yengibaryan, Director of the International Institute for Management of MGIMO, Honored Worker of Science, Doctor of Law author of "Oh, Marie!"
Why did I suddenly decide after all the legal, scientific books to work on a novel?
About ten years ago I started working on a scientific book, called "Comparative Constitutional Law",
it is a more difficult part of constitutional law on the basis of forty different constitutions of the world.
I started writing this book, "Comparative Constitutional Law".
This edition went through several publications.
The book consists of two parts.
The first is about a choice.
The choice is, at any time, before every man.
He does not even realize that at this point he is making a choice.
How successful is this choice?
This choice accompanies us all our lives.
The information in the book is of great importance for the nation, the people and for every person.
First and foremost is the period when one is born, the kind of society.
The second is cultural area, that is, a place where he was born.
The third is ethnic origin, which is less relevant than his nationality.
The book consists of several components:
the author and the publisher, Olga Pavlova, editor and director of the well-known scientific publishing house "NORMA".
She is a scientist, expert on administrative law, for many years she has been the head of the publishing house.
Olga Pavlova, Director General of the legal publishing house "NORMA"
I would like to say that Robert Yengibaryan is a very famous lawyer, he's a doctor of Law,
Professor, Honoured Scientist and as a lawyer and professor many times he was the author of books that we published.
Among them were books, monographs and there was a great book, "Constitutional Development in the Modern World",
which not only demonstrates the high professional level of the author,
I mean the scientific level, but also his broader humanitarian view.
Quite recently, Robert surprised me very much: he called me and said that he had written a novel.
I must say that our publishing house had never published novels before:
we publish scientific, educational, business literature.
So I was sceptical at first in reacting to this information.
Out of respect for the author, and out of curiosity, I said: “Well, I can have a look at it, and we will think what can be done.”
I started to look, then read, then I was fascinated, then I read the book carefully to the end.
I want to say that, apart from the wide socio-political context,
political information and philosophical background of the novel,
a reader can certainly be attracted by the fact that it is good, interesting, nice literature.
There is a living story.
There is a charming main character - a young man who is looking for his path in life and makes his choice.
There are very prominent characters of his friends and relatives.
There is love of the motherland.
There is a lively dialogue.
I think that everyone who reads the book, and I would advise everyone to do it,
will find in it something for himself and answers to some questions.
I think this book, so unusual and unexpected, in my opinion,
for such a serious man as Robert Yengibaryan, is his unconditional creative success.