The Poet of the Diaspora - Kavafis and Greek History

Event Details

Presenter: Michail Bakoyiannis

Synopsis

C. P. Cavafy (1863-1933) lived most of his life and wrote almost all his works in Alexandria. Αs he himself had stated, ever since he was young, History and the knowledge of antiquity were among his favourite intellectual interests. This special interest was also expressed in his poems, especially in those of the maturity period (1911 onwards). How can this poetic historicism be interpreted? Is it purely a personal choice and a self-sustained edifice? Which manner does Cavafy use to embrace History in his poetry? As a poet of the Greek diaspora, does he use Greek History for preserving the Greek national collective memory and identity? Or does this representation, especially of the Hellenistic past, become a means, a vehicle, for other issues to be raised?

About Michail Bakoyiannis

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.