Topographies of Hellenism: Neurosis, Mysticism, and Gender in European Culture

268 Pages·1995·6.525 MB·English

by  Artemis Leontis

TOPOGRAPHIES
OF HELLENISM
Mapping the Homeland
ARTEMIS LEONTIS
CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS
ITHACA AND LONDON
Copyright© 1995 by Cornell University
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof;
must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher.
For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street,
Ithaca, New York 14850.
First published 1995 by Cornell University Press.
Printed in the United States of America
@ The paper in this book meets the minimum requirements
of the American National Standard for Information Sciences
Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Leontis, Artemis.
Topographies of Hellenism : mapping the homeland / Artemis Leontis.
p. cm. - (Myth and poetics)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8014-3057-7
Literature, Modern-Greek influences. 2. Greek literature-History and
l.
criticism-Theory, etc. 3. Civilization, Modern-Greek influences. 4. Geography,
Ancient, in literature. 5. Mythology, Greek, in literature. 6. Greece-In literature.
7. Greece-Historiography. 8. Hellenism. I. Title. II. Series.
PA3071.L46 1995
809-dc20 94-4149~
Contents
..
Foreword, by Gregory Nagy
Vll
.
Acknowledgments
lX
.
Note on Translations and Transliteration
Xl
Introduction: Mapping the Territory
I
p I.
ART RELOCATING THE ANCIENT SITE
The Topological Approach
1. 17
Heterotopia: Visitors to the Culture of Ruins 40
2.
3. Topos: From Revenant Nation to Transcendental Territory 67
II.
PART RETERRITORIALIZING HIGH MODERNISM
4. Entopia: Modernist Transpositions of the Native
103
5. Nostos: Hellenism's Suspended Homecoming
132
6. Cosmos: Modernist Poetics in a National Universe
172
Afterword: Changing Topographies
218
Works Cited
227
Index 249
Foreword
GREGORY NAGY
This book is about the mythology and poetics of a space, the
culturally defined topography of Neohellenism. Like other Helle
nisms of the past, most notably the Panhellenism of Homeric poetry,
Neohellenism finds its most powerful self-expression in a poetics of its
own, unifying a vast array of different groups into a single people, the
Greeks of today. This poetics, as Artemis Leontis demonstrates, is all
pervasive in modern Greek literature.
The space created by the poetics ofNeohellenism becomes the ever
re-created homeland of the Greeks. In its concreteness, it is a real
space. At the same time, its reality is infused with myth, always
resituated by the groundedness of Neohellenism in all the Hellenisms
of the past. Any topos of modern Greek literature may reactivate a
corresponding topos from the archaic, the classical, the Hellenistic,
the Roman, and the Byzantine periods. The poetics of the space that
is Hellas is the myth of a Hellas eternally recovered in the literary
. . .
1mag1nat1on.
..
Vll
Acknowledgments
This book was written between 1987 and 1993 while I was study
ing and teaching in Classics, Comparative Studies, and Modern Greek
at the Ohio State University. Earlier versions of portions of the text
have appeared elsewhere: parts of Chapter 3 in the Journal of Modern
Greek Studies 8; Chapter 5 in the Journal of Modern Greek Studies 5 and in
Homer, edited by Katherine King (New York and London: Garland
Press, 1994); and Chapter 6 in the Journal of Modern Greek Studies 9. I
thank Johns Hopkins University Press for permission to reprint mate
rial that appeared in the Journal of Modern Greek Studies.
The book has as long a prehistory as any. It saw me through
graduate training, during which time I benefited from studies with
Eugene W. Holland, Stephen V. Tracy, and Marilyn Robinson Wald
man, as well as the administrative support of Charles Babcock, Fred
eric Cadora, and Micheal Riley. To Gregory Jusdanis I owe special
thanks, for he cultivated an interpretive community of young schol
ars, invested it with his integrity and enthusiasm, and encouraged its
members to share work. In part as a result ofhis efforts, I found myself
caught in a powerful new wave of Neohellenists. Panayotis Bosnakis,
Vangelis Calotychos, Van Gegas, Stathis Gourgouris, Martha Kliro
nomos, Eva Konstantellou, Tracy Lord, Nenny Panourgia, and Maria
Papacostaki all responded to ideas found in this book.
As the book took shape, many colleagues helped me develop my
thoughts, improve the manuscript, and find a home for it. Margaret
Alexiou gave me topos. Eleni Vakalo and Nanos Valaoritis surveyed it.
Khachig Tololyan recalled its diasporas. Charles Williams reversed
lX
x Acknowledgments
compass points. And Andreas M ylonas found that one obscure article
J.
that helped me connect the dots. I also thank Elizabeth Bellamy,
John Chioles, Ernestine Friedl, Katherine King, and Charles Stewart
for their encouragement and advice. I am very grateful to Bernhard
Kendler for his confidence. Marian Shotwell's impressive learning in
Greek, modern and ancient, and her scrupulous editing were espe
cially helpful. I appreciated her fine work. Above all, I am indebted to
Gregory Nagy, whose optimism never waned. He remains for me a
model of courage and open-mindedness.
For as long as the book has been in the making, Vassilis Lambro
poulos has stood by my side, gently and persuasively pointing out
what routes of inquiry there are for thinking and being. 'rhis work
owes its life to him and to Daphne Polymnia, a parallel achievement.
Finally, I acknowledge today what I could not always appreciate in
the past: my parents' vigilance in retaining a bilingual household.
They zealously bridged two distant worlds and enabled me to frequent
both sides. With Neocles Leontis, I have enjoyed exploring the cir
cuitous paths of border crossing. I dedicate this book to my parents,
Thomas E. Leontis and Anna P. Leontis, for their love of letters and
their firm belief that women should be equal sharers of learning.
A. L.
Columbus, Ohio
Note on Translations
and Transliteration
Most translations in this book are my own and reflect my under
standing of the original Greek. Where I have used English translations
of others, I indicate the translator's name or the title of the translated
publication.
In transliterating modern Greek terms, I have followed the phonetic
system of the Journal of Modern Greek Studies, which reproduces the
sound as opposed to the spelling of Greek words. Transliterated words
of more than one syllable normally bear a stress accent. I retain well
known Latinizations or Anglicizations of proper names, place-names,
and Greek words that circulate in English. The names Elytis and
Seferis and the river Ilissus, as well as the names of ancient authors and
heroes and words like topos and cosmos, are prominent examples of this
practice. For ancient and Byzantine Greek names, I have followed the
more traditional, non phonetic system of transliteration, in which each
Greek letter is rendered into English, and accents are omitted. I follow
these two different systems for modern and ancient transliteration
because their phonetics differ; furthermore, there is a lack of consensus
on ancient Greek pronunciation.
Xl

TOPOGRAPHIES
OF HELLENISM