Zarian, Ruben

Born Sept. 1 (14), 1909, in Aleksandropol’ (present-day Leninakan). Soviet theatrical scholar. Doctor of art studies (1962). Honored Art Worker of the Armenian SSR (1961). Member of the CPSU since 1942.

Zar’ian graduated from the philology department of the University of Yerevan in 1936. He began his literary activities in 1933. Zarian’s works are devoted to Armenian theatrical art; they include .The Struggle for Russian Drama in the Armenian Theater (1954), Theatrical Portraits (1956), Siranuish, 1857-1932 (1957), Arus Voskanian (1957), Adamian (vols. 1-2, 1960-61), and Adamian’s Shakespeare (1965). In 1948, Zarian began to teach at the Yerevan Art and Theater Institute, becoming a professor there in 1963. He has been director of the Art Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR in Yerevan since 1958 and director of the Armenian center for the study of Shakespeare since 1965. Zarian has been awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor and medals.