Published in 2017, Fleeting City by Hovhannes Tekgyozyan is a novel that is part of a new generation of writers in Armenia writing about queer characters and themes.
Tekgyozyan graduated from the State Institute of Theatre and Cinematography. He has written short stories, novellas, plays, essays, screenplays, and two novels. He won the Armenian-American IFEFA Prize (2006) for best young writer and the Vahan Tekeyan Prize (2009) for his short story collection Sun of Glass.
Part humourist, part absurdist, always serious, part surrealist, always imaginative – Tekgyozyan seems to be able to draw an animated film on paper, where objects come to life and human beings take on unsuspecting forms.
Fleeting City book cover
The novel follows Gagik and Grigor in Yerevan, Armenia. They are longtime friends and its their alternating perspectives that tell the story of their relationship. According to the book jacket, the novel has been described as a “virtual movie-novella, where mysticism and urban typologies, grotesque and humourous transitions are all interlaced.”
If available, please consider buying a copy at Abril Books. This book may also be available for purchase through the Queer Armenian Library’s shop at Bookshop.org. If you purchase a copy through Bookshop.org we will receive a commission.
Otherwise, please use Indiebound’s bookstore finder to find a copy at your closest independent bookstore.
ISBN: 978-1-77161-159-6. Published by Mosaic Press. Translated by Nairi Hakhverdi.
