Axel Pagounts (1899-1937)
Born in Koris, he received his elementary education in his birthplace, and afterward at the Kevorkian Seminary, from which he graduated. At the age of 17, he severely criticized the negative aspects of his birthplace. During this period he served as a teacher in the village of Lor. The experiences of being a teacher have played an important role in his life and later in his literature. He graduated from Seminary at the beginning of 1918. He officially became a writer after Armenia became part of the Soviet Union. In 1924 he became a member of the communist party. With the provincial series of letters published in “Mardagoch,” he demonstrated the great skills of a journalist, as well as the talent of a satirist, which primarily are expressed in the monographs dedicated to his birthplace. Afterwards, he contributed to the Soviet Armenian press and published several volumes of short stories. During political persecutions from 1937-1938 in Armenia, Pagounts too had to share the tragic fate of many other Armenian writers, who were shot dead solely for being guilty of their party unorthodoxy.