Armen Zakharyan in Germany. Lecture "30 seconds before the Renaissance: the last novel of the Middle Ages" from 14 to 17 September 2026

Armen Zakaryan is a philologist, educator, and the creator of the literary channel “Armen and Fyodor.”

Today, we live with the feeling that the old world is coming to an end, while the new one has not yet begun. This isn’t something unique to us; humanity has already experienced such a turning point.

So, the end of the 15th century. The medieval worldview is cracking at the seams: values, rules, language—everything is changing. People feel confusion and disorientation. They are earnestly searching for something to hold onto. At this moment, the imprisoned knight Thomas Malory writes *The Death of Arthur*—the last novel of the Middle Ages.

In this lecture, we will:

• discuss the last novel of the Middle Ages
• trace the evolution of medieval literature
• take a journey from Geoffrey Chaucer and Leonardo da Vinci to the main character of this lecture, Thomas Malory
• learn how and under what conditions a new era was born and how this was reflected in literature

You don’t need to be familiar with the work. You don’t need to be an expert on the Middle Ages.
The lecture is structured so that everything is clear and accessible without any prior preparation.