Leon Surmelian

Leon Zaven Surmelian (; November 24, 1905 – October 3, 1995) was an Armenian-American writer. Surmelian moved to America in 1922, and authored three major works throughout his lifetime.

Early life

Leon Surmelian was born on November 24, 1905, in Trabzon, Trebizond Vilayet, Ottoman Empire to pharmacist Garabed Surmelian and Zvart Diradurian. Surmelian has noted that his father strongly supported Armenian-Turkish friendship, and was the only Armenian in Trabzon critical of Russia. Surmelian died on October 3, 1995 and was buried in Forest Lawn Mortuary, in Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California.

Works

Joyous Light, Surmelian's first and only work in Armenian published in 1924, was well received globally. The book was republished by the Armenian Institute in London in 2018 with added photographs, a map and glossary.

Apples of Immortality, published by the University of California Press in 1968, presented 40 Armenian folktales that, according to Surmelian, "only needed a little trimming and stitching" to make the book comprehensible to the non-Armenian. The 319-page book received mixed reviews and was praised for its artistic insight into the ways and beliefs of the Armenian people. Surmelian's rendition of the folktales included narratives where Armenian men had two brides, which critics found to be inaccurate given that Armenian women are traditionally monogamous. The book received critical acclaim for its ability to retain the poetic qualities, metaphors, images, and rhetoric of the reciters without depending on lyrical song to retain the reader's interest.

Surmelian himself says that Austrian-Bohemian author Franz Werfel and fellow Armenian-American writer William Saroyan inspired him to tell the Armenian story in a different language. Saroyan would later go on to write the introduction to Surmelian's I Ask You, Ladies and Gentlemen, and Surmelian would eventually go on to be known as the most widely read Armenian-American author after Saroyan.