[MGSA-L] Threading the Labyrinth: World War II in the Greek World/Lawrence Durrell Society Conference, June 26-30

[Martha Klironomos]

Threading the Labyrinth: World War II in the Greek World/Lawrence Durrell Society Conference, June 26-30


Threading the Labyrinth: World War II in the Greek World
On Miracle Ground XIX: A Conference of the International Lawrence Durrell Society

Conference Program

Rethymnon, Crete, at the University of Crete

26–30 June 2016

Sunday, June 26
Exhibition (4:00–6:00)

The Alexandria Quartet: An Exhibition of Paintings by Andreas Georgiadis, Based on the Work of Lawrence Durrell Carob Mill Cultural Center, Panormo, Rethymno, T.K. 74057-Tel.: 2810 228 723
(Inclusive Dates of Exhibition: 10 June–3 July 2016)

Welcome Gathering (6:30–8:00PM)

Cash bar with light appetizers at Prima Plora Restaurant, Rethymnon
Akrotiriou 8, Rethymno 741 00. Phone: +30 2831 056990

Monday, June 27

Registration (9:00–1:00)

Welcome (9:15–45; University of Crete, Auditorium A)

Linda S. Rashidi, President, International Lawrence Durrell Society
Anna Lillios, Chair of the OMG XIX Conference Organizing Committee
Lucia Athanassaki, Dean, Division of Classical Studies, University of Crete

Three Keynote Addresses (9:45–12:00)

Presiding: Linda S. Rashidi Mansfield University of Pennsylvania

    Michael Haag “Setting the Scene”
    Ian S. MacNiven “Climax in Crete: A Personal Narrative”
    Chris White “The Kreipe Kidnap”


Lunch on Campus (12:00–1:15)

Session I (1:15–2:35)

Moderator: James M. Clawson Grambling State University

Durrell and World War II
Anna Lillios University of Central Florida

Lawrence Durrell and His Literary Circle: Archiving the World War II Experience in Greece
Martha Klironomos San Francisco State University

‘The beautiful island lies / wounded and bleeding, the calm island, the strong’: The Battle of Crete and the Violence of Memory in the Poetry of George Seferis and Lawrence Durrell
Brian Sneeden University of Connecticut


Session II (2:45–3:30)

Durrell as Poet and Inspiration: Poetry by Durrell and White Mice Contest Winners Michael Colonnese Methodist University; David Radavich Eastern Illinois University

Break (3:30–3:50)

Session III (3:50–5:15)

Moderator: Pamela J. Francis Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts

‘Enter the dark crystal if you dare’: Greece in Lawrence Durrell’s Lyric Poems
Fiona Tomkinson Yeditepe University

‘Lawrence Durrell’s Mediterranean Hinterland: The Secret Flow of the Poet’s Heraldic Universe
Isabelle Keller-Privat Université Toulouse I–Jean Jaurès

The House as Axis Mundi on the Durrells’ Island of Corfu
Dan H. Popescu Partium Christian University

Tuesday, June 28

Tour of World War II Sites

In the Footsteps of Leigh Fermor: The General Kreipe Abduction Route, Allied Secret Services, The Resistance Conducted by Costas Mamalakis formerly of the Historical Museum of Crete; Assisted by Chris White

(The tour begins in Rethymnon; lunch is not provided.)

Wednesday, June 29

Session IVA (9:15–10:30, Room 1)

Moderator: Helen Wussow

How the Scene Has Been Created by Modern Writers from Ted Hughes to Hasegawa Kai: Their Objective Motive Related to Local Myth and Their Subjective Perspective Related to Non-stereotypical Explanations of Nature
Keiko Tawa Poet Laureate Study Japan

Lawrence Durrell’s Convergence with the Cretan Landscape: An Issue of Translatability
Nabil M. Abdel-Al United Nations

Session IVB (9:15–10:30, Room 2)

Moderator: Lisa Honaker Stockton University

A Private Individual Without Concern for Policy: Durrell as a British Official, According to the Times of Cyprus Ciara Barrick European University Cyprus

More Bitter Lemons: George Tardios’s Poem ‘After the Lemons’ and Nora Nadjarian’s Short Story ‘Lemons’
Petra Tournay-Theodotou European University Cyprus

Pope Joan on Her Majesty’s Secret Service: Lawrence Durrell in Cyprus in 1953–56
Panaiotis Gerontopoulos

Break (10:30–10:45)

Session VA (10:45–12:00, Room 1)

Moderator: William Apt

RECEPTION (or rather non-reception) of Lawrence Durrell in Slovenia Marjeta Gostincar Cerar Association of Slovene Literary Translators

The Platonic Background of Durrell’s The Dark Labyrinth
Michael Paschalis University of Crete

Data as Labyrinth: Reading Durrell with Charlock’s Machine
James M. Clawson Grambling State University

Session VB (10:45–12:00, Room 2)

Moderator: Anne R. Zahlan Eastern Illinois University

Parallel Lives / Parallel Texts: Plutarch and The Alexandria Quartet Helen Wussow

‘The Seductive Spectacle’: Durrell’s Justine Caught Between Queen and Cyborg
Umme Al-wazedi Augustana College

The Vertiginous Musk of Modernity: Desire and Politics in Lawrence Durrell
 Izaak Hecht

Lunch on campus (12:00–1:15)

ILDS Business Meeting (1:15–1:55, Room 1)

Linda S. Rashidi presiding

Session VIA (2:00–3:15, Room 1)

Moderator: Sheila Garland

Henry Miller on Crete
 Finn Jensen Copenhagen University

Henry Miller’s Writing on Crete and the Cretan Authors
Diego Delgado Duatis Universitat Rovira i Virgili

Bergson and Odysseus Toss Back a Few: Kazantzakis’s Cretan Peasants
Pamela J. Francis Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts

Session VIB (2:00–3:15, Room 2)

Moderator: Martha Klironomos San Francisco State University

Monty Woodhouse’s World War II Fiction
David Roessel Stockton University and Naijasia Thomas Stockton University

The Un-experience of War and Revolution in PH Newby’s Mediterranean Fiction
 Lisa Honaker Stockton University

Labyrinths of Language and Love: A Consideration of Lawrence Durrell and Elena Ferrante
Candace Fertile Camosun College

Session VII (3:20–4:40, Room 1)

Moderator: Grace Austin

Fernando Pessoa and The Avignon Quintet
Paul H. Lorenz University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff

Writing History in Fiction: World War II and Nazism in The Avignon Quintet
Corinne Alexandre-Garner Université Paris–Ouest

Letters from Paris and Thessaloniki: The Borrowed Identity of Lawrence Durrell as a Container for Post-Holocaust Memories
Rony Alfandary Bar Ilan University

Wednesday Evening, June 29

On Miracle Ground XIX Conference Banquet

Melina Restaurant at the Old Fort in Rethymnon

Welcome and Presentation of Officers Linda S. Rashidi, President, The International Lawrence Durrell Society

Commemoration of the Anniversary of On Miracle Ground IX and a Tribute to Soad Sobhy Ian S. MacNiven, Former President, The International Lawrence Durrell Society

“Swimming Near El-Alamein” David Radavich Eastern Illinois University

“Durrell in Alexandria, 1996: In Words and Pictures” Dr. Galal Aref

“Ill Met by Moonlight” A Presentation by Gabriella Bullock and Hugh Bullock

Dramatic Performance of Stories by Nasos Vayenas and Yiorgos Philippou-Pierides

Moderated by David Roessel Stockton University; Performed by Jade Fleming Stockton University and Stephanie Maniaci Stockton University

Farewells Anna Lillios and James M. Clawson, OMG XIX Conference Organizers
Thursday, June 30

Visit to the WWII Memorial in Alikianos, tour of the Manousakis Winery, and visit to the Archeological Museum and harbor of Chania