Marjorie Housepian Dobkin

Marjorie Housepian Dobkin
Marjorie Housepian Dobkin c. 1957
Born	Marjorie Anaïs Housepian (1922-11-21)November 21, 1922 Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
Died	February 8, 2013(2013-02-08) (aged 90) Emerson, New Jersey, U.S.
Citizenship	American
Education	Barnard College (BA); Teacher's College (MA)
Occupation(s)	Writer, educator
Known for	Author of A Houseful of Love and Smyrna 1922: The Destruction of a City
Spouses	Donald Johnson (divorced) Machbi Dobkin (1957–2004; his death)
Children	3
Parents	Moses Housepian (father) Makrouhie Housepian (née Ashjian) (mother)
Relatives	Edgar Housepian (brother)
Signature

Marjorie Anaïs Housepian Dobkin ((1922-11-21)November 21, 1922 – (2013-02-08)February 8, 2013) was an author and an English professor at Barnard College, Columbia University, New York. Her books include the novel A Houseful of Love (a New York Times[1] and New York Herald Tribune[2] bestseller) and the history Smyrna 1922: The Destruction of a City.[3]

Biography

Housepian Dobkin was born in 1922 to Dr. Moses Housepian and his wife Makrouhie Housepian (née Ashjian), Armenian immigrants in New York City, two and a half months after her grandfather was killed by a Turkish soldier during the burning of Smyrna from which her grandmother fled as a refugee. Her younger brother was the neurosurgeon Edgar Housepian. She attended Barnard College, graduating in 1944. She was a professor of literature and writing from 1957 to 1993,[4] as well as associate dean of studies at Barnard from 1976 until 1993. Her students included the novelist Margaret Cezair-Thompson.[5]

Her academic career included: instructor in English at Barnard College (1957–1988), associate dean of studies (1976–1993), professor of English (1988–1993), and 1993–2013: professor emerita (1993–2013).

She lived near Barnard at 425 Riverside Drive.[6]

The Diary of Anaïs Nin inscribed by Anaïs Nin to Marjorie Anaïs Housepian Dobkin

Awards and honors

She was awarded the Anania Shirakatsi prize of the Academy of Sciences of Soviet Armenia[7] and was also the recipient of an honorary doctorate from Wilson College.[8]

Bibliography

• A Houseful of Love (Random House, 1957)
• The Smyrna Affair (US version, Harcourt Brave Jovanovich, 1971; republished by Newmark Press under the title Smyrna 1922: The Destruction of a City)
  • Smyrna 1922 (UK version, Faber and Faber, 1972)
• "The Unremembered Genocide" (article in Commentary)
• The Making of a Feminist: Early Journals and Letters of M. Carey Thomas (Kent State University Press, 1977)
• "George Horton and Mark L. Bristol: opposing forces in U.S. foreign policy, 1919–1923" (1983)
• Inside Out (written with Jean Cullen, Ivy Books, 1989)

References

1. Bulletin of the Institute for the Study of Genocide, p. 6: In Memoriam notice
2. Winnipeg Free Press 13/7/1957 p. 37
3. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/marjorie-housepian-2/the-smyrna-affair Kirkus Reviews
4. "Armenian Church". www.armenianchurch-ed.net. Archived from the original on August 16, 2013. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
5. "Errol Flynn was missing character – Sun Sentinel". August 10, 2008.
6. page 47, Kessabtzis in U.S.A. and Canada 1990 30th Edition, directory of Kessabtzis (Armenians from her father Dr. Moses M. Housepian's hometown of Kessab, and their descendants) published by the Kessab Educational Association of Los Angeles, Inc. (a California nonprofit corporation)
7. http://studyofgenocide.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/isg_48.pdf Bulletin of the Institute for the Study of Genocide p. 6: In Memoriam notice
8. https://archive.org/stream/barnardalumnae731barn/barnardalumnae731barn_djvu.txt Barnard Alumnae Fall 1983 p. 29

External links

• Armenian Church website obituary notice. https://web.archive.org/web/20130816003635/http://www.armenianchurch-ed.net/news-and-media/news/marjorie-housepian-dobkin-1922-2013/]
• Article on Marjorie Housepian Dobkin in Armenian Wikipedia