Masterpieces of Cretan literature

obligatory courses

Students are required to know New Greek to an extent allowing them to work on literary texts in the original (reading of excerpts).

The seminar is devoted to Cretan writings in the period of Venetian domination (1204-1669). The literature created on the island (religious and lay writings, poetry, drama and epic) marks the beginning of the modern era in Greek culture, it is a monument of New Greek language and a model for the output of subsequent artists.

Students will learn about the literary output of Renaissance Crete, the effect of a unique, centuries-long “symbiosis” of Late Byzantine and western (Venetian) culture.

In particular they will:

- learn about the general historical background of the period in question (13th-17th centuries)

- obtain basic knowledge on the literary forms and genres practiced on Crete

- learn about the Italian/western models of the Veneto-Cretans’ output

- obtain general knowledge on the features of Cretan dialects and their role in the development of Modern Greek

- together, read and interpret works from Early Renaissance Crete (excerpts from Sachlikis, Della Porta, Bergadis, Pikatoros, Falieros, and others)

- learn about the output of the Veneto-Cretans in drama (tragedies: Erofili by Chortatsis, King Rodholinos by Troilos and the anonymous Zinon, and comedies: Fortounatos, Katzourbos, Stathis)

- analyse excerpts from Kornaros’ romance poem Erotokritos (analysis of the portrayed world, elements of the chivalric ethos, characteristics of the protagonists, the presence of classical tradition, the Cretan flavour, etc.)

Semester 1:

1. Introductory class: Outline of the seminar topics and literature of the subject.

2. Introduction to the history of Crete under Venetian rule. The island’s administrative division. Authorities. Cretan society in the Renaissance.

3. The development of the Veneto-Cretan class. Features of the culture, a symbiosis of Byzantine and western traditions.

4. Characteristics of Cretan literature (literary community, genres, sources of inspiration, language, originality, importance).

5-7. The beginnings of literature on Crete. Sachlikis – the Greek Villon. Group reading of excerpts and presentation of a translation by students from the Laboratory of Hellenic Studies (PSH).

8. The charming tale of the donkey, the wolf and the vixen – group reading of excerpts.

9. Output of poets of the early period. Leonardo Della Porta and Marinos Falieros.

10. Catabasis. Bergadis’s Apokopos and other works.

11. The Shepherdess. Idyllic literature. Lyrical and satirical poetry.

12. Religious drama. Vitsentzos Kornaros’ The Sacrifice of Abraham and its western models.

13-15. The rebirth of Greek drama: Erofili by Georgios Chortatsis.

Semester 2

1-3. Tragedy. Andreas Troilos: King Rodholinos. The anonymous play Zinon.

4-5. Cretan comedy: Stathis by Anonymous (?). Katzourbos by Chortatsis. The comedy Panoria (Griparis).

6-7. Fortounatos in Troy. The last Cretan comedy: Fortounatos by Markos Foskolos.

8. A masterpiece of the Cretan Renaissance: Erotokritos by Vitsentzos Kornaros. Introduction. The poem’s structure. Western and Byzantine models.

9. Guest teacher’s class (in Greek).

10. Ancient elements in Erotokritos. The myth of Cephalus and Procris, mediaeval and contemporary elements.

11. Chivalric tournaments – characteristics of the participants.

12 to the end. Characteristics of the protagonist. The chivalric ethos. Greeks and foreigners. Female characters. Arethusa. Women in Cretan society. The Cretan flavour of Erotokritos. The poem’s importance in the history of Greek literature and culture.

Wydania:

Μπεργαδής, Απόκοπος, Αγνώστου Η Βοσκοπούλα, επ. Στ. Αλεξίου,Αθήνα 1998.

Β. Κορνάρος, Η θυσία του Αβραάμ, επ. Ε. Τσαντσάνογλου, Αθήνα 1979.

Γ. Χορτάτσης, Ερωφίλη, επ. Στ. Αλεξίου, Μ. Αποσκίτη, Αθήνα 1996.

Ι. Α. Τρώιλος, Ροδολίνος, επ. Μ. Αποσκίτη, Αθήνα 1987.

Ζήνων, επ. Στ. Αλεξίου, Μ. Αποσκίτη, Αθήνα 1991.

Μ. Α. Φώσκολος, Φορτουνάτος, επ. Στ. Ξανθουδίδης, Αθήνα-Γιάννινα 2004.

Β. Κορνάρος, Ερωτόκριτος, Αθήνα 1995.

Literatura polskojęzyczna obowiązkowa:

Tom I serii "Arcydzieła literatury nowogreckiej", Warszawa 2004: Piękna Pastereczka (tł. M. Mikuła), Bergadis, Utrudzony (tł. P. Majewski); W. Kornaros, Ofiara Abrahama (tł. K. Pacan).

Zajęcia prowadzone na materiałach do powielenia przygotowanych przez prowadzącą.

Learning outcomes

KNOWLEDGE:

- basic knowledge on a historical period that is important for the history of Modern Greek, the literature of modern Greece, and Greek culture

in particular:

- familiarity with the phenomenon of symbiosis of elements of Byzantine (and Oriental) tradition with the western Renaissance’s achievements

- awareness of the process of transplanting western poetics and poetic genres onto Greek reality (rhyme and strophe, sonnet, idyll, ode, drama genres, chivalric epic poem)

- basic information on the beginnings of modern Greek drama

- awareness of the development of the first form of “living” literary Modern Greek (in opposition to the “learned” Byzantine language)

- being able to name the works that influenced (and still influence) later Greek writers and form part of the Modern Greek literary canon

SKILLS:

- being able, with the help of dictionaries, to extract information from an original text

- identifying the main elements of native and western Greek tradition in the analysed texts

- identifying the main literary genres practiced by the Veneto-Cretans

SOCIAL COMPETENCES:

- understanding the need for continual learning

- working in a group (group translation) and presenting the results of this work (oral presentation)

- individual work (preparing a brief oral report) involving retrieval, selection, and assessment of material

Written tests to check students’ knowledge about the period and works discussed in class and the level of comprehension of excerpts from texts (content, vocabulary, dialectal elements). Active participation (individual preparation) in classes (joint reading of excerpts) will be taken into consideration.

Graded written test (open and closed questions, fragments of text in the original for analysis and/or translation).