- In your life, who do you think you are most recognizable to?
- I'm not even trying, it's not my business, it's not my problem.
- Through whom did you complete yourself?
- Now there are very few people left. I had the anxiety that my friends will go before me, and if they go, who will I have in this world?
- Who were they in particular?
- Gurgen Mahari, Suren Aghababyan, Hamo Sahyan, I had a wonderful Diaspora Armenian friend named Suren Bursalyan, he returned to America. I felt broken after he left. They created an environment for me. Now there are a few more, Levon Hakhverdyan, Hovik Hakhverdyan, whom you can cling to in this life.
- What was your initial perception of the world, what did you strive for, what did you expect that you didn't get?
- For a long time, I was one of the nobles who avoided harsh reality, saw himself in another world and relied on literature. I found myself in the land of books and in my thoughts, thank God, there were good ones. Hovhannes Tumanyan's invention was from the beginning.
In order to walk widely in this world, I had to learn languages, to learn the symbols of the world culture from the beginning, and not just the symbols of the local, but the Soviet ideology, which was alienated from the world. And my incompleteness as a citizen and an intellectual was the result of incomplete education and partisanship. In any case, I would like to be a full member of the big family in world literature, I blame it on upbringing.
- What traits did you inherit from your parents that you would like to avoid?
- No, now you said it, and I remembered my father, I remembered my mother, I remembered their undying hard work. They were encyclopedic phenomena.
- Is it possible that you consider your literature somewhat outdated today?
- Did you use the word "modern" on me? In all cases, everything that was aimed at protecting interests, I will not say that it is outdated, if so, then at least it is honest. It is the rural part of my father, my parents, my people that was declared an enemy, that had to be oppressed, that is still being oppressed today. The drought attacked not the city trader, everyone else, but the land and the peasant, I can be said to be their mouthpiece. I have tended to look for my God in them. It is very possible that I am attached to my parents and village with my literature. I have seen and loved God in them.
- Is rural naivety present in you?
- It is not naivety, I would say faith, when you are deceived a hundred times and still do not believe that you have been deceived.
- What is the advantage of your literature? What did you want to change in the world that did or didn't change?
- I wanted to write a gospel for the Armenian country.
- Do you consider yourself a prophet?
- If I don't consider myself a prophet, if everyone doesn't consider himself a prophet, it's in vain to pick up a pen.
- Is Hrant Matevosyan the most popular writer or the person?
- Are you separating in vain? Yet I have been hailed purely for my writing.
- Did you feel alone in that sense?
- I am always alone.
- Are there moments when you are angry with the world?
- I am not angry. If you get angry, it means you are quite naive. I pretend to think I'm not naive. The world is what it is, I don't think so.
– Have you had complications that you have worked to get rid of? Many people stress how difficult it is for you to express yourself verbally.
- And who are easy to express themselves? Who throw bluffs, learned phrases. Those who themselves separate their words from the great chaos, make mistakes, they are obliged to stutter, go back and forth.
- What do you regret?
- My best writing age was 25-35. it was at that time that Matevosyan would have been provided with at least a daily bread and a place to write, it was then that I would have become the prophet, the writer that I was supposed to be, but that suffering, that care of daily bread took my wonderful age from my hand.
- What did you spend those ten years doing?
- Typewriter - one, proofreader - two, and then editorial staff. Then came film institute and film courses, which were my best years. Within seven months, I created what gave me a surname, and union recognition. If I had 10 years instead of those 7 months, I would have been a really big writer and my earnings would have been bigger. The pursuit of a person who understands literature has been my path and path to the sun. I do not consider my entire essay to be literature, I have understood the ideal of literature and always strived for it.
- When you see a young, powerful pen, how do you feel?
- When I see a strong pen, the reader awakens in me, which should be enjoyed. When I see a weak pen, it seems like the death of me. Let me tell you my impression of the last days. While rereading "Vardanank", I saw that Demirchyan made my 65-year-old reader young.
- Have you ever been rejected by women?
- I was very much in love, always magnanimous, blind, not seeing any flaws. I don't know if they were themselves or Leila's imagination.
- Who was your great love?
- My wife.
- They say that he has a ruling temperament. Are you able to keep your domains free from your spouse's rule?
- What kind of woman would not be a ruler, what kind of woman, if she is going to bear a child, keep a husband, dominate, will not be a ruler. Of course, there is a bell-faced feature here, my wife is a strong-willed girl. He is a good person.
- How did he attract you?
- You ask difficult questions. Why do they fall in love at the age of 6-7? Who knows? She put her hair behind her ear, I fell in love. It turned out that he also fell in love. I entered the institute late, he reserved a place for me next to him.
- What crazy things do you have?
- I don't have crazy things, I always have self-control, I don't like crazy people.
- Do you like your appearance?
- I didn't like my appearance. That's why I tried to proofread it with literature, to be strong with literature.
- What would you like to be?
- I had good data, you know. I had the data of a gymnast, and there was no lack of physical strength. I wish I was 1'65 instead of 1'77. Why? So that my chest was full, my lungs were strong, I was a healthy worker, I could sit, work, stand for eight hours, straighten my back and not get tired.
- What kind of parent were you?
- I did not attack my children. I have loved my children and sometimes thought that sleeping is more important than waking them up and sending them to school.
- When does your face light up, when do you get excited?
- In the case of small victories, when I see that my essay did not become lifeless, something is needed.
- In which environment do you feel good and drink keeps you company?
- Lately I have been drinking quite a lot, but at that time I was running away from alcohol. I like good quality brandy, homemade vodka.
- What do you cherish the most in this world and fear its loss?
- I cherish the joint future of your children and mine, that's why I'm worried, I can't push that worry away from me.
- Have you had the desire to give up life, do you love life?
- If I had been brave, I should have refused a long time ago, but you will remain without an owner. I am afraid that you will remain a flock of sheep without a shepherd, which the wolf will eat. Maybe this is self-delusion, or maybe I'm taking on some role as a death avoider...