Muratsan, Grigor

(pseudonym of Grigor Ter-Ovani-sian). Born Dec. 1 (13), 1854, in Shusha, present-day Nagorno-Karabakh AO, Azerbaijan SSR; died Sept. 12 (25), 1908. Armenian writer.

Muratsan graduated from the diocesan school of Shusha in 1873. He became a teacher and a bookkeeper. The historical drama Ruzan (staged in Tbilisi, 1882; published 1900) brought him fame. In the novellas Noah’s Raven (1899) and The Apostle (1902), Muratsan treats the Armenian peasantry’s poverty and lack of rights from a Narodnik (Populist) viewpoint. His novel The Center of Enlightenment (1892) examines the daily life of the urban bourgeoisie. The historical novel Gevork Marzpetuni (1896; separate edition, 1912) depicts Armenian life in the tenth century.