British Romantic Literature and the Emerging Modern Greek Nation

British Romantic Literature and the Emerging Modern Greek Nation makes an original contribution to the field of British Romantic Hellenism (and Romanticism more broadly) by emphasizing the diversity of Romantic-era writers' attitudes towards, and portrayals of, Modern Greece. Whereas, traditionally, studies of British Romantic Hellenism have predominantly focused on Europe's preoccupation with an idealized Ancient Greece, this study emphasizes the nuanced and complex nature of British Romantic writers' engagements with Modern Greece. Specifically, the book emphasizes the ways that early nineteenth-century British literature about contemporary Greece helped to strengthen British-Greek intercultural relations and, ultimately, to situate Greece within a European sphere of influence.

Shifts traditional focus from Romantic engagement with Ancient Greece to Modern Greece Emphasizes the ways that early nineteenth-century British literature about contemporary Greece helped to strengthen British-Greek intercultural relations and, ultimately, to situate Greece within a European sphere of influence Uses comparatist theories of nationalism and cultural identity and a new historicist approach that highlights the political, cultural, and sociological dimensions of literary production

Auteur

Alexander Grammatikos is Instructor at Langara College, Vancouver, Canada.

Texte du rabat

British Romantic Literature and the Emerging Modern Greek Nation makes an original contribution to the field of British Romantic Hellenism (and Romanticism more broadly) by emphasizing the diversity of Romantic-era writers attitudes towards, and portrayals of, Modern Greece. Whereas, traditionally, studies of British Romantic Hellenism have predominantly focused on Europe s preoccupation with an idealized Ancient Greece, this study emphasizes the nuanced and complex nature of British Romantic writers engagements with Modern Greece. Specifically, the book emphasizes the ways that early nineteenth-century British literature about contemporary Greece helped to strengthen British-Greek intercultural relations and, ultimately, to situate Greece within a European sphere of influence.

Résumé

"A compact and systematic study, this book provides a dense, solid, and at the same time dynamic account of the cultural, ideological, and political nodes underlying the process of Greek national independence, in a transnational and cross-cultural perspective." (Franca Dellarosa, The BARS Review, Vol. 54, 2020)

Contenu

1. Introduction.- 2. Caught Between East and West: Negotiating Modern Greek Identity in Ida of Athens and Anastasius .- 3. "It Never Entered in My Head that You Were Going to Annex Any Romaic Specimens to Your Poem": Lord Byron, John Cam Hobhouse, and the Politicization of Greek Language, Literature and Learning.- 4. There's No Place Like Homeland: Victimized Greek Women, The Greek War of Independence, and the Limits of European Philhellenism.- 5. All Roads Lead to Constantinople: Re-Historicizing Greek-British Relations in The Travellers and The Last Man .- 6. Conclusion.