The Fool
SynopsisPlot
It was originally published in 1881 and deals with the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 long before the large-scale massacres began. Raffi called for action, unity, and self-reliance. Many of his criticisms of the Armenian community of the time are equally as applicable today as they were nearly 125 years ago. He foresaw what was in store for the Armenians if they did not actively seek to change their fate.
Story
About this book
The Fool, first published in 1881, is a novel by the Armenian writer Raffi, the pen name of Hakob Melik Hakobian. Set against the backdrop of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, the story follows a man and a woman caught up in the fate of a divided nation. The war had raised hopes among Armenians living under Ottoman rule that Russian advances might bring protection or autonomy, but the aftermath left many communities exposed and vulnerable. Raffi wrote the novel years before the large-scale violence of the 1890s and later, giving the book an uneasy quality of anticipation.
Central to the novel are Raffi's arguments for unity, self-reliance, and organized action within the Armenian population. He directed pointed criticism at what he saw as passivity and internal division in Armenian society, warning that without change the community faced a grim future. The English translation by Jane S. Wingate makes the text accessible beyond Armenian-language readers.
Raffi remains one of the most widely read Armenian novelists of the nineteenth century. The Fool sits within a body of work that frequently used fiction to address the political pressures facing Armenians in the Ottoman and Russian empires.
