Ara Baliozian's confession
When I went into this business I thought my readers would like to be analyzed. (After all, Hollywood stars sometimes spend countless hours and millions of dollars on shrinks.)
I was wrong.
I know now that what my readers want more than anything else is to be flattered and loved. That's because they are not lovable and they know it. To them literature should be a feel-good enterprise and writers brown-nosers.
First nation to accept Christianity.
Yes im anoush Hayastani.
The eternal snow of Mt. Ararat.
The holy waters of Lake Sevan.
Khachaturian, Saroyan, Mikoyan.
And let's not forget Krikor Ipekian, Yeghisapet Terzakian, and Hagop Palanjian (Gregory Peck, Elizabeth Taylor, and Jack Palance).
They can never have enough of these names.
They are repeated over and over again like mantras. They represent success and everything else that is good in life. As a child I too was brought up to be proud of them. I was led to believe, if they can make it, so can I.
Well, they were wrong and I was wrong too.
I didn't make it.
I speak as a failure.
You may now ignore everything I have said so far and go to bed with an easy conscience. Mamoulian, Aznavour, Cher.
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