An intellectually stimulating evening is poised to be hosted at the Greek Centre on Thursday, August 17, 2023, featuring two lectures as part of the Greek History and Culture Seminars, offered by the Greek Community of Melbourne (GCM).
Commencing at 6pm, Dr Michail Bakoyiannis from the School of Philology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and a visiting scholar at La Trobe University’s Greek Studies program, will deliver the first lecture titled ‘Greece; a crucified body (George Seferis): The Greek Civil War (1946-1949) in Modern Greek prose.’
The purpose of Dr Bakoyiannis’ lecture is to probe the way Greek Civil War has been represented in Greek novels from 1950 till the present day, prenoting that literary fiction is not considered historical evidence and the relationship between history and literary discourse is not an issue of a simple reflection.
The way the Greek Civil War has been represented in Greek literary fiction has changed dramatically from 1950 onwards. What kind of changes could be traced during this period? Which factors (political, cultural, intellectual, etc.) have had a critical role in the way literary prose embodied the Civil War? How, and to what extent, did some novels operate within the literary and intellectual field and cause a public political and ideological discussion? These are some of the main questions that will be examined focusing on emblematic Greek novels published from 1950 till the present day.
Michail Bakoyiannis was born in Athens (1966) and studied Greek Philology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) where he later obtained his Doctorate in Modern Greek Literature from the School of Philology. He has been teaching Modern Greek Literature at the School of Philology at AUTH since 2011 but has also presented courses in the Departments of Modern Greek Studies at the University of Cyprus (2008), the University of Belgrade (2012), the Universiteit van Amsterdam (2013), the Universität Wien (2015), the University of Ioannina (2015) and the Hellenic Open University since 2003. He has published five books and his main areas of research interest are Modern Greek Literature and Critique, especially post-war, and the Greek literary periodicals of the 19th and 20th century.
Subsequently, at 7.15 pm, Dean Kalimniou will delve into Pyrrhus, known as the Western Alexander, the king of Epirus, who was considered one of the most exceptional rulers of his time. Mr Kalimniou will take people through a journey of three continents and three empires to examine the fascinating life and times of one who took on the might of Rome and had the capacity to change history.
Mr Kalimniou is a lawyer, poet and short story writer within the Greek community. He has published seven poetry collections in Greek and translated the works of many local Greek authors into English. He has also published translations of Papadiamantis’ short stories in the critical anthology “The Boundless Garden. Selected Short Stories.” Recently he released his first bilingual children’s book “Simela and the Magic Kemenche.” This is to be followed by another one in 2024, ‘The Librarian from Cappadocia.’
Admission is free, and light refreshments will be served.
Event Details:
- When: Thursday 17 August 2023, at 6.15 pm and 7.00 pm
- How: Greek Centre (Mezzanine, 168 Lonsdale St., Melbourne)
