Peter Balakian discusses the new edition of his “Black Dog of Fate”

by Lola Koundakjian

Published: Thursday February 05, 2009

A revised edition of Peter Balakian’s Black Dog of Fate: A Memoir includes two new chapters.

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New York - It used to be nearly impossible to find an English-language book, published by a major house, that dealt with personal memories interwoven with the topics of the Armenian Genocide, the emigration of survivors, or Armenian freedom fighters. The tide has changed thanks in part to Peter Balakian's groundbreaking work, Black Dog of Fate. Continuously in print since 1997, with 23 editions, it has been translated into Armenian, Dutch, German, Greek, and Turkish.

[Today the firmly established genre includes recent books such as Skylark Farm by Antonia Arslan (English translation from the original Italian, published in 2007), The Knock at the Door by Margaret Ajemian Ahnert (2007), My Grandmother: A Memoir by Fethiye Cetin (U.S. edition published in 2007), Marie-Antoinette Varténie Arzoumanian-Bédanian's Traverse Mère de Dieu - Marseille (published in French in 2003), and Nancy Kricorian's Zabelle (1999) and Dreams of Bread and Fire (2004).]

This month, Basic Books, a division of the Perseus Books Group, published an expanded, tenth-anniversary edition of Black Dog of Fate, with two additional chapters. Recently I caught up with Mr. Balakian during his winter break in Europe, for a conversation about the new edition.

When asked about his expectations regarding public reaction to the book, Mr. Balakian said he had none. "I was just happy it was published," he noted.

Embraced as a modern classic, Black Dog of Fate was awarded the PEN/Albrand Prize for Memoir, was a New York Times Notable Book for 1997, and recognized as Best Book of the Year  by the Los Angeles Times, Publishers Weekly, and Library Journal. Publishers Weekly called the book "A prose masterpiece by an acclaimed poet," and the Philadelphia Inquirer hailed it as "a landmark chapter in the literature of witness."

Author Chris Bohjalian said that when he read the book, he saw in it echoes of his own childhood. In 1997, New York Times reviewer Dinitia Smith wrote that authors such as Carol Edgarian, Leslie Ayvazian, Mark Arax, and film director Atom Egoyan, in addition to Mr. Balakian, have "at the heart of their work . . . a search for justice and acknowledgement."

It is therefore gratifying to learn that Mr. Balakian's book is now taught at numerous U.S. colleges, universities, and secondary schools. "Students and teachers are using it in the classroom fairly consistently," Mr. Balakian said, adding that students send him emails and letters as they write reports on the book and the Armenian Genocide. He said that they ask good questions, and that it is rewarding to be in dialogue with them.

Asked about current front-page stories about genocides around the globe and how the citizens of the world and their leaders react when they read such news, Mr. Balakian said he believes that "the general population knows more about the concept of genocide today than ever before," due largely to genocides in the Balkans, Rwanda, and Darfur in the past decade. "Certainly some heads of state and governmental organizations, at least in Europe and perhaps here - and we're hopeful with the Obama administration on human-rights issues - are realizing that they must make stopping genocide a priority. Whether this will happen remains to be seen."