[MGSA-L] Columbia University Seminar in Modern Greek, Nicolaou, "Now that the World has Become an Endless Hotel, " April 24

[Dimitris Antoniou]

Dear list members,

This year's sixth meeting of the University Seminar in Modern Greek at
Columbia will take place on Wednesday, April 24.

DATE AND TIME: Wednesday, April 24, 6:00-7:30 PM
LOCATION: 618 Hamilton
TITLE: 'Now that the World has Become an Endless Hotel': Greek Narratives
of Displacement in the Middle East during WWII
SPEAKER: Argyro Nicolaou (MoMA)
DISCUSSANT: Nikolas Kakkoufa (Columbia University)

To request a copy of the paper (see abstract below), contact the author at
anicolaou at g.harvard.edu.

Please be reminded that the seminar will consist of a short introduction
from the speaker followed by comments from the discussant and then
discussion among all attendees. We therefore ask attendees to read the
paper in advance and come with questions and/or comments.

More information about the University Seminar in Modern Greek can be found
at https://hellenic.columbia.edu/modern-greek-seminar/spring-2019.

With all good wishes,
Dimitris Antoniou
Co-chair of the University Seminar in Modern Greek

***

'Now that the World has Become an Endless Hotel': Greek Narratives of
Displacement in the Middle East during WWII

Following the Axis' occupation of Greece in 1941, scores of Greeks fled the
country, making their way to Syria and Palestine via Turkey, in what one
journalist described as a 'reverse migration route' from Europe to the
Middle East. The Greek government itself was in exile in Cairo, Egypt until
1944. My paper will examine the Greek literary production that came about
from this wave of displacement, as well as the cultural political
significance of this literary canon today. It will highlight an aspect of
Europe’s political and cultural history that undermines currently dominant
stereotypes of refugees and migration.

The talk will offer a comparative analysis of texts produced by Greek
authors displaced to Egypt and Palestine between 1941 and 1944. These texts
include the diaries and poetry of Greek Nobel Laureate George Seferis, the
poetry of Smyrna-born Ellie Papadopoulou, and the Drifting Cities trilogy
of Greek Egyptian writer Stratis Tsirkas. It will also consider texts by
Australian journalist Alan Moorehead and British novelist Olivia Manning,
both of whom also chronicled their experience of the war in North Africa
and the Middle East, and had very possibly brushed shoulders with their
Greek counterparts.

The talk will explore the various ways that the experience of displacement
is represented in these literary works, paying particular attention to how
different literary representations might diverge or converge depending on
genre, author experience and nationality. The essay contends that the
first-hand experience of displacement has an effect on both the content and
the form of these literary texts, and attempts to sketch out a literary
ethics and aesthetics of displacement.
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