Vahé Oshagan

Vahé Oshagan studied at Melkonian Educational Institute, St. George's College, Jerusalem and Faculty of Arts of Paris. The recorded working language is Western Armenian and English. Residence is recorded at Beirut and Philadelphia. Employment is recorded with International College, Beirut, American University of Beirut and Haigazian University.

• Name — Vahé Oshagan • Born — 1922 • Birthplace — Plovdiv, Bulgaria • Died — 30 June 2000 • Place of death — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. • Occupation — poet, writer, and literary critic • Spouse — Arsine Oshagan (m. 1978) • Children — 2 • Father — Hagop Oshagan

Vahé Oshagan was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in 1922. His father, Hagop Oshagan, was a prominent writer and critic. Raised in Cairo, Jerusalem, and Cyprus, he studied in France and received a doctorate in comparative literature from the University of Sorbonne, in Paris. Like many Armenians, whose villages and homes were destroyed by the Turks in 1915, Oshagan drifted throughout the Middle East and Europe, never finding a permanent home. He lived in Beirut after 1952 and taught philosophy and psychology, as well as Armenian, French and English literature. He was again uprooted at the start of the Lebanese civil war in 1975 and forced to move to Philadelphia, where he taught at the University of Pennsylvania from 1976 to 1982. The American cityscape became a focus of his work, as exemplified by his volume Alert (Ահազանգ) (1980). In the 1990s, he taught at the university of Stepanakert during the war of Karabagh. He later lectured at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, from 1993 to 1998. He was a prolific contributor of the Armenian press in the Diaspora, from Beirut to California, during half a century. His essays on literary, cultural, and political issues may fill several volumes. Oshagan died of complications after heart surgery in Philadelphia on June 30, 2000, at the age of 78.

• (1956) Badouhan (Պատուհան (Window)) • (1963) Kaghak (Քաղաք (City)) • (1971) Karoughi (Քառուղի (Crossroads)) • (1980) Ahazank (Ահազանգ (Alert)) • (1983) Khoujab (Խուճապ (Panic)) • (1987) Pakhstagane (Փախստականը (The Fugitive)) • (1988) Tagardin shurch (Թակարդին շուրջ, (Around the trap)) • (1996) Inknoutiun (Ինքնութիւն, (Identity))