http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0691636656/?tag=2022091-20
2016
Anna Balakian was born on July 14, 1916 in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire (nowadays Istanbul, Turkey). She was a daughter of Diran and Kohar (Panosian) Balakian. When she was a child, she moved with her family and later lived on the Swiss-French border. In 1927, at the age of 11, Anna came to the United States.
Anna Balakian earned a Bachelor's Degree at Hunter College in 1936 and Master's and Ph.D. degrees at Columbia University in 1938 and 1943.
Anna Balakian devoted her career to teaching, first as a high school teacher of the French language in New York City, beginning in 1937. She was also an author of many recognized books and articles. Her first book, The Literary Origins of Surrealism, was published in 1947.
In 1943, Anna joined the faculty at Syracuse University and rose to the rank of assistant professor of French Literature. In 1953, Anna became a chairman of the Department of Comparative Literature at New York University. She occupied this post for eight-years.
Balakian accepted a post of an assistant professor at New York University in 1955, becoming a professor of French and comparative literature by 1964.
It was in 1959, when Balakian's next book, Surrealism: The Road to the Absolute, appeared. A Critical Appraisal, published ten years later, gives a detailed analysis of symbolist poetry.
She also served as department chair of the Department of Comparative Literature beginning in 1978 until her retirement as professor emerita in 1986.
Balakian also taught briefly at the City University of New York, Oxford University, and College de France. An advocate of quality education, she produced educational radio broadcasts.
Proficient in French, German, Spanish and Armenian, Anna Balakian was a prolific author of scholarly essays and wrote several books in her field, among them ''The Literary Origins of Surrealism'' (1947), a study of the founders of modern French poetry, and ''Surrealism: The Road to the Absolute'' (1959), an exposition of Surrealist literature and art.
One of Annas' books, André Breton: Magus of Surrealism, was the first widespread biography of this writer.
Anna obtained many grants and fellowships during her activity, including a Guggenheim fellowship from 1969 till 1970, National Endowment grant from 1970 till 1979, American Council Learned Societies and International Research Exchange grants.
( First published in 1959, Surrealism remains the most re...)
From 1977 till 1982, Anna Balakian was a member of the American Comparative Literature Association.
On December 15, 1945, Anna Balakian married Stepan Nalbantian. The couple had two children whose names are Suzanne and Haig.
