On a Quest of the Light

On a Quest of the Light is a story of betrayal, heroism, passion, and loveboth for a woman and a country. Paruyr Hayrikyan, architect of Armenias independence movement and author of this book, presents his experiences as a freedom fighter through a letter to the love of his youth whom he lost during his eighteen years in prison and exile for dissident activity under the repressive Soviet regime. Written in the form of a personal memoir, On a Quest of the Light tells a chapter in the history of the fall of the Soviet empire that is rich with crucially important and nearly forgotten details of the story of a former Soviet republics journey to statehood. The letter/memoir tells the tragic love story of the naive and innocent Lusineh and the helpless romantic and democratic leader Paruyr (whom Lusineh only knows by the pseudonym Varujan) against the backdrop of Paruyrs struggle to liberate Armenia from the USSR by way of national referendum. While one chapter describes twenty-four-year-old Paruyrs excitement at his and Lusinehs first kiss, the next describes Paruyrs despair upon being sentenced to fourteen more years in prison. Parallel to the dissident activity in Armenia, the memoirs also discuss dissident movements from across the Soviet Union (Ukrainian, Russian, Georgian, Jewish, and pre-Baltic movements) through Paruyrs friendships with his counterparts in other Soviet republics, owing to their shared sufferings in Soviet prisons and shared dreams of freedom for their respective nations.