The broadcast is dedicated to the Austrian writer Joseph Roth, whose works also describe many episodes from the writer's own fate. He wrote sixteen novels, of which particularly "Radetzky March" brought him literary fame. Roth showed in this novel how boring monotony can be...

American prose writer, poet, playwright  Gertrude Stein put literary text into a new course, presented reality with a new image, and created interesting strokes of portrait, thus opening a new page in the vast world literature.

Polish literature  underwent significant changes in the 20s of the 20th century. Futurists who were against grammatical and orthographic rules came to be considered innovative. There was the literary group called "Skamander." Władysław Broniewski and Julian Tuwim were considered the best poets, while Leon Kruczkowski, Maria Dąbrowska and Witold Gombrowicz, the best prose writers...

This episode is dedicated to the outstanding German novelist Erich Maria Remark. He had an unusual fate. When he was a 17-year-old boy who had just graduated from high school, he went to the front and was wounded five times. After the war, he worked as a teacher in a province and then moved to Berlin. After the death of his mother, Remark took her name as his second name. To meet everyday needs, he was ready for any job. Teacher, racer, worker in the field of trade, editor, journalist – these are specialties that are reflected in the images of his characters.

Argentinian novelist, playwright, translator and poet Julio Cortázar is loved in his homeland, but he is now translated and read in the entire world. The reason is the thirst for freedom in his literature, and he devoted many of his works to this. Using the element of fantasy, he has made the reality of novels more interesting...

The Austrian writer Rainer Maria Rilke has left a great impact on world literature. His poetic series, letters and articles are a rich research material for literary critics and art historians.  The books of the world's greatest lyrical poet continue being republished not only in his homeland, but also abroad.

The broadcast is dedicated to the renowned Spanish poet and playwright Rafael Alberti who recalls his entrance into literature in this way: "We entered into poetry in hard and unquiet times. We should have discovered a new world in order to find there the reality that would remind us of nothing..."

Danish literature of the first half of the 20th century is multi-layered, varied, and interesting. It is presented by a large number of talented writers who depict in their works the fate of freedom-loving peoples...

The book "In Search of Lost Time" by the French novelist, essayist and representative of modernism Marcel Proust is considered one of the most important novels of the 20th century. The writer lived in an era when social changes shook Europe. In this novel, written during this period, the writer is not interested in historical or political events, but in the time with conscious flow and in the imaginary world that tries to get its memory back.

Life in Latin America  in the early 20th century is characterized by the economic, political and spiritual conquest policy of the USA against Latin American peoples, which could not but be reflected in literature, especially in anti-imperialist novels of this period. Such literature created in Latin American countries is not deficient in national characteristics and thematic and language manifestations. In the first place, Mexican folk poetry is noteworthy: coplas (quatrains) and cancions (songs), with their mostly revolutionary themes, had a great influence on the further development of Mexican poetry...

The name of the English novelist, playwright and essayist John Galsworthy is primarily associated with the series of novels "The Forsyte Saga" which made him famous as a great master of realistic prose. Galsworthy's prose is characterized by subtle observantness, sharp criticism, and lyricism. Some of his articles on literature are programs of realistic literature. He considered Tolstoy and Turgenev to be his literary teachers, and his literary orientation was the addressing of social and socio-psychological problems.

The broadcast is dedicated to the English novelist, playwright, essayist Arnold Bennett. His realistic prose was demonstrated particularly well in his novel "The Old Wives' Tale." He managed to depict masterfully the human drama and unrealized dreams and to inform everyday reality. This novel, which is about the irreversible motion of life and time, caused conflicting opinions among writers and literary critics…

The broadcast is dedicated to the French writer and musicologist, Nobel prize winner as well as public figure Romain Rolland. In 1914 no one was given the Nobel Prize for Literature. Only in 1915, this prize was awarded to Romain Rolland. He had a special attitude toward Armenian culture and music. On the occasion of the translation of his famous novel "Jean Christophe," he compared Armenia, in terms of music, with Italy in the letter-preface of the novel. At the Sorbonne, Rolland organized Komitas's lecture and concert, noting that the music of Komitas is deep, tragic and valiant, even in its reverie.

The broadcast is dedicated to Colombian writer, Nobel prize winner, and master of magical realism Gabriel García Márquez. His literary path wasn't easy. Work, sleepless nights, three packs of cigarettes a day, severe illnesses, which he was able to overcome. He also endured the lack of attention from readers and literary critics for a long time. His first works, which he had written with great enthusiasm and much attention, being interesting and innovative, made the writer recognizable much later when he had already completed his largest novel, "One Hundred Years of Solitude."

The name of the French poet, novelist, journalist and political activist Louis Aragon is well-known in the Armenian reality, because his attitude to the centuries-old Armenian literature is obvious. In 1955, he wrote an extensive article titled "The Millennial Procession of Armenia" where he especially valued Avetik Isahakyan and Yeghishe Charents, comparing them with major poets of the 20th century Éluard, Apollinaire, Rilke, Lorca, Yesenin, and Mayakovsky. On the occasion of the death of Avetik Isahakyan in 1957, Aragon wrote the article "In Memory of Avetik Isahakyan." In the article "Who Remembers the Armenian Genocide," he called the events of 1915 "the first genocidal crime against a living people."

 The Mann family that lived in the ancient city of Lübeck gave the world two outstanding writers, Heinrich and Thomas. Heinrich wanted to become an artist. He collaborated with the satirical weekly "Simplicissimus," and followed the lectures on art history at the University of Berlin. His literary debut is the satirical, critical novel "In the Land of Cockaigne." Based on the traditions of Balzac and Zola, he created portraits of Berlin's rich, who became owners of huge wealth as a result of various frauds. Mann creates the image of a country with such residents, a country where milky rivers flow and apples and pears fall down at people's feet. All this is in some measure borrowed from the folklore reality. This is how the provincial young man Andreas Zumsee sees the high society of the capital. The handsome poet is lucky. Holding him in her powerful arms during love moments, his financier wife gives him pieces of very valuable advice on how to succeed in stock markets...

 The broadcast is dedicated to the founder of modern Chinese literature Lu Xun (real name Zhou Shu Ren). Both his prose and journalistic literature as well as literary-historical works clearly demonstrate the development of Chinese literature. Lu Xun was born in Shaoxing. His father was a landlord and gave his land plots in rent. It freed the family from many life problems, that is, the Zhou family lived a comfortable life. Lu Xun first studied at Naval Academy in Jiangnan, then at the School of Mining and Railways. Here he studied several foreign languages, English, German, French, and got acquainted with natural sciences — physics, chemistry, biology —  developing his mental abilities. Of course, this knowledge wasn't sufficient, and Lu Xun started to educate himself...

The broadcast is dedicated to the famous French writer and great proponent of realistic prose Hervé Bazin. He is considered to be the most read writer of the 1950s to 1980s. He was also a well-known public figure, a fighter for peace, and had been the Chairman of the Goncourt Academy since 1973. All of this shows the great importance he had in the literary life of France. Bazin was born in an  aristocratic family, which was proud of its ancestors, among whom there were eminent lawyers, clergymen, scientists, soldiers, even a bishop and an academician. His father was a lawyer, worked at the Catholic University, and saw his son as a lawyer. Herve first studied at a Catholic gymnasium, then, at his parents' will, in the faculty of law of the university, but soon left it. The reason was his conflict with his parents, who did not accept their son's literary inclinations...

The broadcast is dedicated to the Czech literature of the 20th century, for which the 1920s were a difficult and controversial period associated with aesthetic views. This was accompanied by heated ideological debates. A large role was played by the literary group "Devetsil" founded in Brno in 1923. The group members considered themselves Marxists and tried to make innovations in art. The Surrealists became successors of Poetism and published a manifesto based on the works of André Breton and of French Surrealists...

This episode is dedicated to the poet and writer Charles Aznavour whose book "Aznavour by Aznavour" is still read with great interest.

The broadcast is dedicated to the famous Spanish poet Miguel Hernández. In 1931, in the hope of a big success, Miguel arrived in the capital without a penny in his pocket.  An interview with the shepherd poet and some poems by him appeared in the best journals of the capital. But he didn't succeed in finding a job.  In order to provide his essential needs, he returned to his village. However, the Madrid period was very effective: he got acquainted with modern Spanish poetry and strengthened his interest in the Spanish poet Góngora. The very first collection of Hernández, published in 1933 under the title "The Expert on the Moon," bears the influence of Góngora, whose poetry left a striking impression on the self-taught poet...

The broadcast is dedicated to the Irish playwright and novelist Seán O'Casey. Due to poor eyesight, he never went to school and learned to read and write on his own. He wrote his first plays in the 1920s. The play "The Shadow of a Gunman" was followed by "Juno and the Paycock" and "The Plough and the Stars." All the three plays are dedicated to the national liberation struggle of the Irish people. In all these works, the most important thing is the depiction of the heroic spirit of most insignificant and humble people. 

Herbert Wells, a science fiction writer, master of social and philosophical fiction, biologist by profession and Doctor of Biology, is an author of many famous novels, scientific studies, manuals, and various interesting books.  It is a well-known fact that scientific and technical progress is in the center of his entire work. But the writer was firmly convinced that technical progress cannot make humans happy, and in his works, Wells made interesting juxtapositions between capacities of science and reason, and described world cataclysms, the cruelty of soldiers, and the  conquest of colonies. In the early 20th century, he foresaw the birth of many great scientific discoveries related to the development of the universe and interplanetary communication.

The German writer and political figure Anna Seghers was born in Mainz, in a bourgeois family. Her first stories appeared in the middle of the 1920s, and in the first story, "Grubetsch," she clearly reflected the reality. In the novel "Die Ziegler," she presented the tragic fate of a small man. The suffering of the Ziegler family of artisans has a direct connection to the German bourgeois reality of that time. Seghers centers her attention not only on the victims of social injustice but also on those who fight against it.