부산대학교 도서관

The article deals with the notion of autostereotype or self-image and its significance in the Armenian historical and literary discourse. Armenian nation is usually depicted as a priori suffering, tortured and persecuted. The very idea of persecution is inseparably linked with the existence of God’s punishment, because his Chosen People (Armenians) betrayed sacred Covenant (ukht), abandoned the faith of their ancestors, and for this reason lost forever their promised land and were sentenced to life in eternal exile. The exile represents in the Armenian context one of dominant „key” themes. The notion of exile is closely linked with Armenian historical experience of aghet or catastroph (persecutions, deportations, massacres). Armenian self-image reflects the experience of long-term existence as a religious minority without own country or kings, surrounded by Others. It incorporates into itself a number of aspects borrowed from the heterostereotype, which is mostly negative and full of hostile feelings against the „middleman minority” supposed to play a role of „fifth column”. Armenian self-image thus oscillates between pride and humility, mirroring the role of martyrs.