“Unbuilding the Acropolis”
“Unbuilding the Acropolis”
Professor Vassilios Lambropoulos
“Unbuilding the Acropolis in Greek Literature”
Εισήγηση στην Γεννάδειο Βιβλιοθήκη, 07/23/2008
Professor Vassilios Lambropoulos
“Unbuilding the Acropolis in Greek Literature”
Εισήγηση στην Γεννάδειο Βιβλιοθήκη, 07/23/2008
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“Whatever the Acropolis may be,
It doesn’t exist without us”
(Montis 1978: 22)
Do Greeks care about the Acropolis? If we look at their literature, we hesitate to answer. In both poetry and prose, the “sacred hill” appears very rarely, and when it does, it is usually an object of attack rather than admiration. Greek writers of the last two centuries seem profoundly uninterested in visiting or discussing the famous site. Given the importance of antiquity for modern Greek culture as well as the centrality of the Acropolis in the literature of travels to Greece, the literary stance is puzzling. This paper will offer an answer to the puzzle.
The Acropolis is one of the best-known and most-visited places in the world, a place that people recognize and admire even without ever visiting it. In addition to its ancient glory, it has acquired the aura of a modern topos that has been discursively and institutionally constituted. The Acropolis is a countersite in that it exists both in an archaeological location and in the collective imaginings of Western tradition – both in and outside history. The Acropolis evokes not only the classical Athenians who built it but also modern creators like Melville, Thackeray, Flaubert, Freud, Hofmannsthal, Woolf, Durrell, Malraux, Heidegger, Golding, Walcott, and Derrida who recorded their visits in literature, theory, and reflection. In marked contrast, it does not evoke contemporary Greeks. In turn, we find that Greeks do not exhibit a corresponding enthusiasm but instead something entirely different. The reason is that the “technology” of travel writing on Greece has disciplined them into oblivion.
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Professor Vassilios Lambropoulos
“Unbuilding the Acropolis in Greek Literature”
Susan Stephens and Phiroze Vasunia, eds.: Classics and National Culture, Oxford University Press, 2009.
Σχετικά με τον Βομβιστή του παρθενώνα στο άρθρο του καθ. Βασίλη Λαμπρόπουλου
_________________________________________________________________________“Unbuilding the Acropolis in Greek Literature”
Susan Stephens and Phiroze Vasunia, eds.: Classics and National Culture, Oxford University Press, 2009.
Σχετικά με τον Βομβιστή του παρθενώνα στο άρθρο του καθ. Βασίλη Λαμπρόπουλου
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