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{{Short description|Armenian writer (1854–1908)}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name             = Muratsan
| birth_name       = Grigor Ter-Hovhannisian
| image            = Muratsan.jpg
| imagesize        = 220px
| caption          =
| birth_date       = {{birth-date|1 December 1854}}
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|12 September 1908|1 December 1854|df=yes}}
| occupation       = Writer, teacher, accountant
| genres           = [[Historical fiction]]
| movement         = [[Romanticism]]
| birth_place      = [[Shusha]], [[Russian Empire]]
| death_place      = [[Tiflis]], Russian Empire
}}
'''Grigor Ter-Hovhannisian''' ({{langx|hy|Գրիգոր Տեր-Հովհաննիսյան}}; 1 December 1854 – 12 September 1908), better known as '''Muratsan''' ({{langx|hy|link=no|Մուրացան}}), was a prolific [[Armenians|Armenian]] writer, known best for writing ''[[Gevorg Marzpetuni (novel)|Gevorg Marzpetuni]]'' (1896), a historical novel set during the time of King [[Ashot II]] in Armenia in the tenth century.
== Biography ==
Grigor Ter-Hovhannisian, better known by the pen name Muratsan, was born in the city of [[Shusha]] in the region of [[Karabakh]] on 1 December 1854 ([[Old Style and New Style dates|Old Style]]). His father was a craftsman. He first attended local private schools. His father died when he was twelve years old, leaving his family in a difficult financial situation. His mother was forced to move him to a cheaper school. A year later, he enrolled as a tuition-free student in the Shusha parish secondary school, from which he graduated in June 1873.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Partizuni |first=Vache |url=https://tert.nla.am/archive/HAY%20GIRQ/Ardy/1951-1980/partizuni_muracan_1956.pdf |title=Muratsʻan: kyankʻě ev steghtsagortsutʻyuně |publisher=Haypethrat |year=1956 |location=Erevan |pages=11–12 |language=hy |script-title=hy:Մուրացան : կյանքը և ստեղծագործությունը |trans-title=''Muratsan: life and work'' |oclc=622602254}}</ref> He excelled at school and spent most of his free time reading. It was at the parish school that his love for Armenian history and the old Armenian historians was nurtured. He learned excellent [[Classical Armenian]], as well as some Russian and French, at the parish school. He spent a year after graduating furthering his knowledge of French.{{Sfn|Partizuni|1956|pp=15–16}}
In 1875–76 Muratsan taught Armenian language and history at a school in Shusha. In 1877 he traveled around Karabakh, visiting and studying many historical sites. Upon his return to Shushi, he wrote a brief history of the noble [[House of Hasan-Jalalyan|Hasan-Jalalyan]] family.{{Sfn|Partizuni|1956|pp=16-17}} In 1878 he moved to [[Tiflis]] (modern-day Tbilisi, Georgia), where he worked as an accountant and remained for the rest of his life.<ref name=":0" /> He first received recognition for his historical drama ''Ruzan kam Hayrenaser oriord'' (Ruzan, or the patriotic maiden), written in 1881 and performed at a Tiflis theater in 1882{{Sfn|Partizuni|1956|pp=18-19}} (the play was first published in 1900).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sarinian |first=S. |title=Haykakan sovetakan hanragitaran |title-link=Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia |year=1982 |editor-last=Arzumanian |editor-first=Makich |volume=8 |location=Erevan |pages=[https://hy.wikisource.org/wiki/%D4%B7%D5%BB:%D5%80%D5%A1%D5%B5%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B6_%D5%8D%D5%B8%D5%BE%D5%A5%D5%BF%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B6_%D5%80%D5%A1%D5%B6%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%A3%D5%AB%D5%BF%D5%A1%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%B6_(Soviet_Armenian_Encyclopedia)_8.djvu/97 97]–98 |language=hy |script-title=hy:Հայկական սովետական հանրագիտարան |trans-title=Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia |chapter=Muratsan}}</ref> His historical novel ''[[Gevorg Marzpetuni (novel)|Gevorg Marzpetuni]]'' is regarded as his greatest work. The novel is set in tenth-century Armenia, during the reign of [[Ashot II of Armenia|Ashot II]]. The novel's titular protagonist is a patriotic military leader who places national interests above his personal desires.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bardakjian |first=Kevork B. |title=A Reference Guide to Modern Armenian Literature, 1500–1920: With an Introductory History |date=2000 |publisher=Wayne State University Press |isbn=9780814327470 |pages=188}}</ref> In addition to ''Gevorg Marzpetuni'', he wrote many short stories and novels, including ''The Apostle'' (1902). An intensely nationalistic writer, Muratsan was one of the last Armenian representatives of [[Romanticism#Literature|Romanticism]] and kept to this style even as it was supplanted by other trends.<ref name=":0">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GmtPLvnrc38C&q=Gevorg+Marzpetuni&pg=PA472 |title=The Heritage of Armenian Literature, Volume III: From the Eighteenth Century to Modern Times |publisher=Wayne State University |year=2005 |isbn=9780814328156 |editor1-last=Hacikyan |editor1-first=Agop Jack |location=Detroit |pages=471–472 |editor2-last=Basmajian |editor2-first=Gabriel |editor3-last=Franchuk |editor3-first=Edward S. |editor4-last=Ouzounian |editor4-first=Nourhan}}</ref> He stood out as one of the few notable authors of his time that maintained strictly conservative views and rejected the progressive and reformist ideas that were becoming popular among Armenian intellectuals in the late nineteenth century.{{Sfn|Bardakjian|2000|p=187}}
A hospital,<ref>{{Cite web |title='Muratsan' Polyclinic |url=http://muratsan.am/en/departments-en/polyclinic-2/ |access-date=24 September 2024 |website=Muratsan.am}}</ref> a street,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Avagyan |first=Sergey |title=Erevani pʻoghotsʻnerě |publisher=VMV-Print |year=2010 |isbn=9789939600574 |location=Yerevan |language=hy |script-title=hy:Երևանի փողոցները |trans-title=''Streets of Yerevan'' |oclc=727074100}}</ref> and a school<ref>{{Cite web |title=Yerevan Basic School № 18 Named After Muratsan State Non-Profit Organization (SNPO) |url=https://www.spyur.am/en/companies/yerevan-basic-school--18-named-after-muratsan/84445/ |access-date=24 September 2024 |website=Spyur Information System}}</ref> in Yerevan, Armenia, are named after him.
== ''Ruzan'' ==
''Ruzan'' is a historical drama which takes place in the thirteenth century during the [[Mongol]]-Tatar invasions. Ruzan was the daughter of prince Hasan-Jalal Dawla. Faced with the choice of conversion or death, she refuses to betray her countrymen and her religion and as a consequence is executed.<ref>{{in lang|hy}} [http://www.eanc.net/EANC/library/Fiction/Original/Muratsan/Ruzan.htm Ռուզան].</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline|Muratsan}}
* {{GSEn|079091|Мурацан Григор (Muratsan Grigor)}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Writers from Shusha]]
[[Category:Armenian people from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:1908 deaths]]
[[Category:1854 births]]
[[Category:Armenian male writers]]
[[Category:Burials at Armenian Pantheon of Tbilisi]]
[[Category:Writers from the Russian Empire]]