Black Dog of Fate is set in the affluent New Jersey suburbs where Balakianthe firstborn son of his generationgrew up in a close, extended family. At the center of what was a quintessential American baby boom childhood lay the dark specter of a trauma his forebears had experiencedthe Ottoman Turkish governments extermination of more than a million Armenians in 1915, the centurys first genocide. In a story that climaxes to powerful personal and moral revelations, Balakian traces the complex process of discovering the facts of his peoples history and the horrifying aftermath of the Turkish governments campaign to cover up one of the worst crimes ever committed against humanity. }His visions are burninghis poetry heartbreaking, wrote Elie Wiesel of American poet Peter Balakian. Now, in elegant prose, the prize-winning poet who James Dickey called an extraordinary talent has written a compelling memoir about growing up American in a family that was haunted by a past too fraught with terror to be spoken of openly. Black Dog of Fate is set in the affluent New Jersey suburbs where Balakianthe firstborn son of his generationgrew up in a close, extended family.
At the center of what was a quintessential American baby boom childhood lay the dark specter of a trauma his forebears had experiencedthe Ottoman Turkish governments extermination of more than a million Armenians in 1915, the centurys first genocide. In a story that climaxes to powerful personal and moral revelations, Balakian traces the complex process of discovering the facts of his peoples history and the horrifying aftermath of the Turkish governments campaign to cover up one of the worst crimes ever committed against humanity.In describing his awakening to the facts of history, Balakian introduces us to a remarkable family of matriarchs and merchants, physicians, a bishop, and his aunts, two well-known figures in the world of literature. The unforgettable central figure of the story is Balakians grandmother, a survivor and widow of the Genocide who speaks in fragments of metaphor and myth as she cooks up Armenian delicacies, plays the stock market, and keeps track of the baseball stats of her beloved Yankees. The book is infused with the intense and often comic collision between this familys ancient Near Eastern traditions and the American pop culture of the 50s and 60s.Balakian moves with ease from childhood memory, to history, to his ancestors lives, to the story of a poets coming of age.
Written with power and grace, Black Dog of Fate unfolds like a tapestry its tale of survival against enormous odds. Through the eyes of a poet, here is the arresting story of a familys journey from its haunted past to a new life in a new world. }
- ISBN10 0786743700
- ISBN13 9780786743704
- Publish Date 10 February 2009 (first published 1 May 1997)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Basic Books
- Format eBook
- Pages 304
- Language English