Nar-Dos
Mikayel Hovhannisian, known by the pen name Nar-Dos, was an Armenian writer.
Biography
Nar-Dos was born Mikayel Hovhannisian to a wool seller's family in Tiflis, Russian Empire in 1867. He started his education in a parochial school of St Karapet Church, and continued at Nikolaev Municipal School. He later entered Khon Seminary in Kutaisi, which he did not finish because of its impoverished conditions, and returned to Tiflis. He was engaged in the profession of a locksmith at Mikayelian craft school where he met Armenian poet Alexander Tsaturyan.A year later Nar-Dos left Mikayelian craft school and started practicing journalism. In 1890–1906 he was the responsible secretary of the periodical Nor Dar. He worked as a secretary and proofreader at the journal Aghbyur-Taraz in 1903, and for the newspaper Surhandak from 1913–1918.
Nar-Dos began writing in the 1880s starting with poems, some of which were published in Araks in St Petersburg, and the "Sokhak Hayastani" poetry collections. He also wrote stories, satirical articles and plays. Under the influence of Gabriel Sundukian, Nar-Dos composed the plays "Mayin's Complaint", “Honey and flies” , and “Brother” .
Under the pen name of Mikho-Ohan he published “Tchshmarit barekamy”, “Nune”, ,
“Knkush larer” , and “Zazunyan” in the newspaper Nor dar.
In the stories and novels of his first period he mainly describes urban life, focusing on certain social groups, "Hopop", "Hogun vra hasav" , "Anna Saroyan" ). One of the famous stories of this period is “Me and Him”, written in 1889.
After 1890 a new period began in Nar-Dos' creative work. Well-known works of this time include “The Killed Dove” , in which the author depicts the tragedy of an Armenian woman,
“Struggle” , and “The Death” .
Nar-Dos died in 1933 in Tbilisi. He is buried at the Khojivank Armenian cemetery.