Daredevils of Sasun: Poetics of an Epic

By Azat Yeghiazaryan, Translated by S. Peter Cowe Passed down by word of mouth through the magic of live performance art for a millennium and a half till its scholarly transcription in the late 19th century, the Armenian epic Daredevils of Sasun presents a rich legacy of accumulated folk wisdom. Evolving from mythic roots through folkloric antecedents up to it main period of gestation (8th-12th centuries C.E.), it tells the tale of the life, loves, and heroic struggles of four generations of the House of Sasun to establish their patrimony and uphold the weal of their community against foreign onslaughts.  Armenian Studies Series, No. 12 Mazda Publishers (2008)