Վարդան Մատթէոսեան2026-02-162026-02-162016Մատթէոսեան, Վ., «Վահան Թոթովենցի վաղ կենսագրական հարցեր», «Հայկազեան հայագիտական հանդէս», 2016, Պէյրութ, էջ 269-316https://haigrepository.haigazian.edu.lb/handle/123456789/1210The life and deeds of writer Vahan Totoventz (1889-1938), before he settled in Soviet Armenia (1922), have been studied to a certain extent, but many issues still remain unclear. The ideological ups and downs of the writer have indirectly created an obstacle for Soviet Armenian biographers, who were obliged to work with incomplete data and offer equally incomplete information. One of the reasons for this was the contradictory nature of the biographical data made available by Totoventz himself. Mostly, these data have not been double checked against documentary information, even in those cases when such a verification did not create any risks. After a thorough study of available printed and unpublished sources, including archival documents, newspaper articles, and a secondary bibliography, the author has formulated certain conclusions that may be of interest for future biographers: a) The Totoventz family (the name has continued in the United States as Totovig) was originally from Akn, Western Armenia, and had settled in Mezre (administrative center of the vilayet of Mamuret-el-Aziz) in the second half of the nineteenth century. However, the writer’s maternal family (Goljukian, known in the United States as Kelikji) came from the township of Dzovk, near the homonymous lake (known in Turkish as Golcuk), and had moved to Mezre at an earlier date. b) Totoventz’s year of birth should be regarded as 1889 or 1890, as the writer himself attested until 1912 at least. The alternative year 1893 appeared in 1920, while the other alternative, 1894, was first published in 1932, apparently for political reasons. c) Totoventz first resided in the United States from 1908 to 1915, including a two-year period of studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1912-1914). d) Totoventz departed for the Caucasus in 1915 to enroll in the Armenian volunteer battalions attached to the Russian army. Afterwards, he worked at orphanages opened in Western Armenia (1916), gathered accounts of survivors for a project to collect and publish them (1916–1917), and became the editor of the Tiflis-based Hayastan daily (1917–1918). e) After being a sympathizer of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), Totoventz became a member of this party, probably in 1910, and remained in its ranks until the end of 1916, when he left for ideological reasons or pretexts. f) From 1920 to 1922 he was a member of the National Democratic Party (later Armenian Democratic Party) and its continuation, the Democratic Liberal Party (DLP). g) After moving to Soviet Armenia, where he would become a victim of the Stalinist purges, he was forced in 1922–1923 and later to periodically publish declarations of ideological faith, both against the ARF and, less often, the DLP, to make explicit once and again the break with his past.