The Ethos of Language and the Ethical Philosophy of Odysseus Elytis
Contributors: Roilos, Panagiotis; Duffy, John; Hamilton, John
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Description: My dissertation deals with the ethical philosophy of the Greek poet and Nobel Prize winner Odysseus Elytis (1911-1996). Responding to the "ethical turn" in literary scholarship, I scrutinize the notion of ethos and ethics, which permeates Elytis' writing, and its place in Elytis' poetic universe. Revolving around Elytis' "theory of analogies," this topic involves a number of diverse and complex literary dialogs, from Plato and Plotinus to German and Greek Romantics, forming part of an unwavering aesthetical and ethical worldview—an alternative cultural, spiritual, and political paradigm Elytis sought to establish. I often encountered little-noticed textual connections which show deeper background contacts, such as the permeating role of Platonism in the literary formation of many among these authors, or Elytis' reading of Friedrich Hölderlin which was at times surprisingly compatible with Heidegger's. I also argue that Elytis' reception of ancient philosophers and poets, such as Empedocles or Pindar, was often intrinsically connected with the ethical considerations of his times. The dissertation includes archival material from the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki and the Gennadius Library in Athens, which confirmed many of my hypotheses about Elytis' intellectual preoccupations.
Notes: Keywords: Elytis, Ethics, Greek Modernism, Hölderlin, Plato, Plotinus.

Thesis Ph.D. Harvard University 2014