Mothers and Daughters in Narine Abgaryan’s Three Apples Fell from the Sky

The book of the Armenian author Narine Abgaryan written in Russian is a story that combines fairy tale charm with the sweet smell of childhood memory. It is obvious from the very beginning that the writer knows how to knit a wonderful thread of words. Her language is full of adjectives and simile and she draws strong identity picture based on upbringing, national and regional identity, on family lore and traditions. 

The story told in the book unfolds in three parts dealing with the life of distinctive members of the small community in a tiny village called Maran. They are all peculiar in their own ways, sharing strong belief in dreams and the supernatural, relying on centuries-old superstition and tradition. A lot of readers qualify the book as a form of “magical realism” but I prefer to avoid such a label because the “magical” elements in Abgaryan’s book are rather rooted in folklore and tradition and are familiar to me as an Eastern-European brought up with the same set of old-wives tales. However, on second thought, there is something in Three Apples that reminds of Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits.

The similarity, to my mind, is how both novels draw on the female connection within a world where patriarchy is strong and deeply rooted in the way society functions. When I speak of patriarchal culture, the term employs the religious undertones to some extend but I emphasize on the feminist approach. Female writing has been in the centre of dispute ever since the twentieth century feminism demanded from the woman to find her own voice and identity within the world of male dominated words and literature. This troublesome identity relies on female-driven identity.

Three Apples fell from the Sky mirrors its author’s vision on globalization and the importance to preserve local identity in its ancient beauty. Maran, which is situated so far up in the mountain that it is merely in the sky, is an oasis of the past where daughters inherit their mother’s jewelry together with the family curse. The connection mother-daughter is strong and never undermined by trivial life challenges such as death and illness. They keep tradition in remembering the origins of the family name. They always tell stories and thus re-create and sustain the cozy world in which they live and bear their own daughters. Story telling is a myth-making process in the book by Narine Abgaryan. Angela Carter once pointed out the connection between yarn-spinning and story-telling as fundamental for the way prose is constructed by women. It is the same witchcraft ‘magic’ that our grandmothers were accused of. Based on this observation I claim that every female writer masters story-telling as a spell. Here I find the ‘magical’ qualities of Abgaryan’s work.

Whenever a woman tells a story featuring apples and an apple tree I am inclined to go back to the “original”. Of course, in the myth-making of Christianity Eve was tricked to taste from the forbidden fruit and convinced her innocent partner to follow her on the path of knowledge. I have always liked the way the story in the Bible undermines its own morals. It is through the power of the word that Eve understands knowledge. After all Creation starts with the very same formulae: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”. Eve speaks to create the world we know today, the world of the fallen men. Yes, it was mankind that has fallen. According to Abgaryan we (women) get three apples. One for the one who has seen, one for the one who has told, and one for the one who has listened. It has never been history because it is always she, who tells the story.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ralica_Luckanova