Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Table of Contents
- Note on transliteration and other editorial practices
- List of figures
- Introduction: Greece in the European press in the second half of the nineteenth century: Language, culture, identity
- 1 Marinos Papadopoulos Vretos: ‘Le trait d’union entre Paris et Athènes, l’intermédiaire naturel entre la Grèce et les Philhellènes des bords de la Seine’ (Victor Fournel, L’Espérance, 1858)
- 2 Greek identities and French politics in the Revue des Deux Mondes (1846–1900)
- 3 The emergence of modern Greek studies in late-nineteenth century France and England: The yearbooks of the Association pour l’encouragement des études grecques en France (1867) and of the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies (1877)
- 4 La Grèce moderne dans la Nouvelle Revue (1879-1899)
- 5 Medieval and modern Greece in the Academy
- 6 Modern Greek studies in Italy (1866–1897): Philhellenic revival and classical tradition through the lens of the Nuova Antologia
- 7 An interesting utopian undertaking: The Philhellenic Society of Amsterdam and the journal Eλλάς/Hellas (Leiden, 1889–1897)
- 8 Les études de grec moderne en Allemagne et la revue Byzantinische Zeitschrift (1892–1909)
- 9 La Grèce et l’Europe à travers l’insurrection crétoise de 1895–1897, reflétées dans la presse de l’époque
- Index of Names
- Index of Places
- Index of Newspapers and Periodicals
3 - The emergence of modern Greek studies in late-nineteenth century France and England: The yearbooks of the Association pour l’encouragement des études grecques en France (1867) and of the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies (1877)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 January 2023
- Frontmatter
- Table of Contents
- Note on transliteration and other editorial practices
- List of figures
- Introduction: Greece in the European press in the second half of the nineteenth century: Language, culture, identity
- 1 Marinos Papadopoulos Vretos: ‘Le trait d’union entre Paris et Athènes, l’intermédiaire naturel entre la Grèce et les Philhellènes des bords de la Seine’ (Victor Fournel, L’Espérance, 1858)
- 2 Greek identities and French politics in the Revue des Deux Mondes (1846–1900)
- 3 The emergence of modern Greek studies in late-nineteenth century France and England: The yearbooks of the Association pour l’encouragement des études grecques en France (1867) and of the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies (1877)
- 4 La Grèce moderne dans la Nouvelle Revue (1879-1899)
- 5 Medieval and modern Greece in the Academy
- 6 Modern Greek studies in Italy (1866–1897): Philhellenic revival and classical tradition through the lens of the Nuova Antologia
- 7 An interesting utopian undertaking: The Philhellenic Society of Amsterdam and the journal Eλλάς/Hellas (Leiden, 1889–1897)
- 8 Les études de grec moderne en Allemagne et la revue Byzantinische Zeitschrift (1892–1909)
- 9 La Grèce et l’Europe à travers l’insurrection crétoise de 1895–1897, reflétées dans la presse de l’époque
- Index of Names
- Index of Places
- Index of Newspapers and Periodicals
Summary
Abstract
Was the field of modern Greek studies perceived as an ‘exotic’ discipline in the making, or was it considered to be a branch of the already canonised Hellenic studies? This chapter examines two major associations that were established in the late nineteenth century in France and in England and dealt with the promotion of Greek studies: the Association pour l’encouragement des études grecques en France (1867) and the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies (1877). Their yearbooks constitute an unexamined treasure of information illuminating the reception of modern Greece and, at the same time, the construction of the modern Greek cultural identity by French and English Hellenists, from the mid-1860s onward.
Keywords: Modern Greek studies, Association pour l’encouragement des etudes grecques en France, Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, modern Greek literature, vernacular modern Greek, Byzantium
On a cold winter's day in Paris, Adamantios Korais (Adamance Coray) delivered a lecture about the current cultural state of Greece in front of distinguished French academics, who were also members of the Société des Observateurs de l’Homme. On this day (6 January 1803), the enlightened reformer projected his construction of a soon-to-be modern nation to a European audience, by accentuating the European identity of Greece, and especially by emphasising the ties of his country with France. Korais wanted to place modern Greece – or at least his notion of modern Greece – in the spotlight, instead of repeating neoclassicist commonplaces about ancient Greece. Korais's sense of Greece's cultural continuity was realised through his publication programme, ‘The Greek Library’, and his essays on the modern Greek language. However, the reception of the 1821 Revolution and the romanticised classicism of the early nineteenth century in Europe (and then in Greece), couldn't give up the ghost of an idealised classical past, and of a Gibbonian sense of history.
In the years 1800 to 1840, European philhellenes searched for the ancient grandeur among the ruins of Greece. They insisted on seeking for glorious apparitions in the figures of the bedraggled people who resided on the fringes of Acropolis. From Lord Byron's renowned verse, ‘Fair Greece! Sad relic of departed worth!,’ to the exclamation of the French Hellenist, Jean-François Stievenart, ‘Hellas! c’était une illusion!,’ modern Greece was always compared to the ancient one.
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- Languages, Identities and Cultural TransfersModern Greeks in the European Press (1850-1900), pp. 83 - 106Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2021