Title: Topographies of Hellenism
First published: 1995
Description: How do people map a homeland? How does the homeland define them? Focusing on the interrelations between culture and geography, Artemis Leontis illuminates the making of modern Greece. As she fashions a new approach to contemporary Greek literature, Leontis explores the transformation of Hellenism from a cultural ideal to a nation-state.

In Leontis's view, a homeland exists not when it has been inhabited, but after it has been mapped. The mapping of Hellenism, she maintains, has required that modern Greek writers reconstruct a topos, or place for Hellenism through their own national literature. Leontis compares literary topographies of Hellenism created by Greek poets, novelists, and intellectuals from the 1880s to the 1960s with those constructed by European travelers, diplomats, and scholars.

In her discussion of both modern and ancient Greek texts, she reconsiders mainstream poetics in the light of a marginal national literature. Leontis examines in particular how the Nobel laureates George Seferis and Odysseus Elytis both incorporate ancient texts and use experimental techniques in their poetry.

. Charting the constellation of factors that influence our sense of place, collective identity, and tradition, Leontis confronts questions central to current national struggles throughout the world.
Subjects: Civilization, Modern, Geography, Ancient, in literature, Greek influences, Greek literature, Hellenism, Historiography, History and criticism, In literature, Literature, Modern, Modern Civilization, Modern Literature, Mythology, Greek, in literature, Theory, Greek literature, history and criticism, Greece, historiography, Civilization, modern, ancient influences, Mythology in literature, Griekse oudheid, Receptie, Letterkunde, Nieuwgrieks, Litterature, Influence grecque, Litterature grecque, Histoire et critique, Theorie, Civilisation moderne et contemporaine, Geographie ancienne dans la litterature, Mythologie grecque dans la litterature, Hellenisme, Grece dans la litterature, Historiographie
Places: Greece
LC classification: PA3071 .L46 1995