INSTITUTE OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH (IHR/NHRF) > Section of Neohellenic Research (SNR)

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Modern Greek Literature and History of Ideas, 15th-20th c.

The research Program Modern Greek Literature and History of Ideas focuses on (i) the literary and (ii) the scholarly texts in general, written from the 15th to the 20th century. The program aims at studying the ideological and intellectual tendencies drawn from the body of literary and scholarly texts, the cultural transfers that determine the evolution of modern Greek thought and culture, as well as the multiple manifestations and functions of the literary authors, scholars, editors etc. in the public sphere. The program mainly focuses on the history of ideas and intellectual history for a more profound understanding of cultural phenomena. Thus, research is based on the body of the published and unpublished literary works, scholarly essays, translated works, articles in the press, etc., which reveal the main intellectual orientations in Greece, and consequently the main ideological tendencies and currents of thought, from the 15th to the early 20th century.

More specifically, the research activities of the program’s researchers deal with

  • the study of several thematic or literary genres (i.e. memoirs and autobiography, philhellenic texts, pedagogical texts, children’s literature, popular literature etc.) in their relation to the historical and cultural context, whether Greek, Mediterranean and European;
  • the works of the scholars of the 19th century, their cultural and political dimensions and their contribution to national self-awareness; the development of classical philology in Greece as a distinctive scientific field;
  • the overall knowledge of foreign languages (geographic distribution, networking and social stratification of the foreign languages speakers, the ways and means of studying foreign languages) in relation to the translation phenomenon, before and after the Greek revolution; the study of translation as a vehicle of cultural transfers and diffusion of ideas;
  • the study of the scholarly tradition, and the relations of modernity with the ancient heritage;
  • the study of philosophical thought and the intellectual strands associated with modern Greek self-understanding from 1453 to the end of the 20th century;
  • the study of travel literature (15th-19th c.);
  • the study of historiography.

 

History

The study of modern Greek literature has always been among the main scientific fields of the then Institute of Neohellenic Research, since its founding as Center of Neohellenic Research. However, literary studies were never a goal per se, but rather served to the history of modern Hellenism and the history of ideas. In 2001 the “Seminar on Comparative Literature and the History of ideas” was formed to promote the study of Greek literature within a broader international – European context. As the Seminar’s works contributed to the further development of the literary aspect within the Institute’s research activity, in 2006 the Seminar evolved into the research program “Modern Greek Literature - 15th to 20th century”, which later defined its perspectives and orientations more precisely and was named: “Modern Greek Literature and History of ideas, 15th to 20th century”.

 

Members

Ourania Polycandrioti, Research Director (Supervisor)
George Tolias, Research Director
Sophia Matthaiou, Senior Researcher
Alexandra Sfoini, Research Director
Niketas Siniossoglou, Senior Researcher

Other Members
Visiting Researcher:
Anna Tabaki, Professor at the University of Athens

 

Research Projects

(i) History and Genres of modern Greek literature (18th-20th century)
Supervisor: Ourania Polycandrioti, Research Director

The research focuses on the study of literary texts as well as of texts of ambivalent status (children’s literature, travel literature, autobiographical texts and memoirs etc.) as a main source for Cultural History and the History of Ideas, based mainly on the theory of cultural transfers.
Main research fields:

  • the formation and evolution of literary genres (from the 18th c.), and particularly of the genres of personal and referential discourse, such as autobiography and memoirs, in connection with their cultural and historical context;
  • the relation between Literature and History;
  • the relation between readers and literary texts (19th-20th c.).

More particularly the research focuses on:

  • the genres of personal discourse (memoirs, autobiography, 18th-20th c.);
  • historical or history themed literature (19th-20th c.);
  • cultural transfers (19th-20th c.);
  • children’s literature (19th c.);
  • popular literature or the multiple relations between literary texts and public sphere;
  • travel literature.

 

(ii) Nineteenth-century Greek intellectuals

Supervisor: Sophia Matthaiou, Senior Researcher

The research focuses on 19th-century Greek intellectuals and their role in the institutional and ideological formation of the Greek state. They were a group of people with European culture who substantially founded the state institutions and manned the administration. Their multifaceted contribution reflects not only their origins, education and cultural orientations, but also the pragmatic needs to which they were called to face; therefore, it accounts for the social and political changes that took place in Greece at the time. Another axis of the research focuses on scholars and people of high-level education who participated in the Greek Revolution of 1821 and took part in forming the administrative and political organization of the new state.

 

(iii) Humanist Traditions: Greek studies, Philology, Archaeology
Supervisors: George Tolias, Research Director and Sophia Matthaiou, Senior Researcher

The research focuses on the reception and use of classical heritage by modern Greeks, including the early manifestations of this phenomenon during the waxing of European Humanism. Emphasis is given to issues closely related to modern Greek intellectual history; the re-appropriation of ancient Greek heritage and its integration into the new national ideological edifice as proposed by Adamantios Korais and the late-Enlightenment French intellectuals, as well as by European Philhellenism. Another issue considered is the history and national character of Greek archaeology. Within this context, research is conducted on the establishment of classical philology as an organized discipline in 19th-century Greece, a process closely associated with the conditions under which the new state was built.

 

(iv) Translations, Concepts, Symbols (15th-19th century)
Supervisor: Alexandra Sfoini, Senior researcher

The project focuses on the historical approach of the translation phenomenon in diachrony, from the 15th to the 19th century, according to the social and cultural junctures and the requisites of Hellenism under Ottoman and Venetian rule, of the free state and of the diaspora. The aim is to present the language knowledge and the production of translations among the Greeks in relation with the ideas, values and attitudes diffused in the Greek cultural space, in order to outline as precisely as possible the process of cultural transfers and osmoses, the receptivity and the resistances of the Greek space, as well as the genres of the translated works. Within this context the documentation of the catalog of translations in printed and manuscript books for the 15th-19th c. is elaborated. A separate category is that of the instruments of language learning (dictionaries, grammars, methods of learning, dialogues), the books in foreign languages, as well as the translations from ancient Greek.
In the same time, research is conducted on the new vocabularies, the conceptual tools and symbols used as the expression of Modern Hellenism. This research presupposes the systematic indexing of manifold historical material (mainly translations, originals also), and focuses on the formation of a data base of basic words, terms, concepts and symbols of the Neohellenic Enlightenment and Revolution.

The Database
The documentation in the Database of Neohellenic Translations concerning the period between the 15th and 19th centuries continues with the identification of originals and translations, field-work, micro-photographing of introductions, indexing of periodicals kept at the Gennadius Library, the National Library of Greece, the Library of the Parliament, the IHR/NHRF and other libraries. The Database contains app. 3.500 entries. The metadata were contributed by intern university students from the Department of History and Archaeology and the Department of French Language and Literature of the University of Athens.

 

(v) Bibliography and Digital Atlas of Philhellenism
Supervisors: Alexandra Sfoini, Senior Researcher; George Tolias, Research Director

The project aims at enriching the bibliography on Philhellenism and presenting its activity. Within this context, the second edition of Loukia Droulia’s reference book Philhellénisme. Ouvrages inspirés par la guerre de l’indépendance grecque 1821-1833. Répertoire bibliographique, Athens, IHR/NHRF, 2017, was published with considerable additions deriving from the new indexing made by researchers and scholars as Stathis Finopoulos, Mirka Palioura, Konstantinos Maras, Konstantinos Arniakos and Kostas Lappas. The creation of a constantly enriched portal is also scheduled, where philhellenic original publications and iconographic material will be posted. Within the framework of the larger collaborative Project “Anavathmis”, project “Digital Atlas of Philhellenism” describes the trajectories of the Philhellenes. The project aims at offering an important contribution to a subject that attracts the interest of the international research community.

 

(vi) Philosophy, essay and confessional writing in Modern Greece
Supervisor: Niketas Siniossoglou, Senior Researcher

Assuming the vantage point of the History of Philosophy and Intellectual History, this project focuses on the intellectual strands associated with Modern Greek self-understanding from 1453 to the end of the twentieth century. Key questions include the tension between Orthodox Christianity and the West from Plethon to Adamantios Koraes; the intellectual clashes and debates concerning the compatibility between ancient philosophy and theology during the Enlightenment; and the strained relation to Europe and modernity. The continuous endeavor to conceptualize Hellenism and Modern Greek identity is not limited to philosophical pursuits but is commonly associated to the emergence of subjective ways of literary expression, such as the essay, the diary and confessional writing.

 

(vii) Travel Literature in Southeast Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean, 16th-20th c.
Supervisor: Ourania Polycandrioti, Research Director

The project aims to systematically collect and classify the textual and visual material deriving from editions of travel literature on Southeast Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean, dating from the late 15th to the 20th century. The existing database contains 2,500 entries on travel literature editions referring to the specified geographical area. Each entry contains information on (i) the edition and its specific characteristics, (ii) the traveler, his aims and his itinerary (detailed transcription of name-places), (iii) the illustrations of each edition (separate database).
More particularly, the project focuses on:

  • the digital use of existing research material within the Institute of Historical Research in order to make it more accessible to the research community and society
  • the interconnection of the existing research material with corresponding databases abroad.

In the future, the project will also focus on:

  • the indexing of travel narratives, in Greek and foreign languages, with special attention on the first half of the 20th century;
  • the indexing of the content of other types of sources related to the travel narratives and descriptions, as travel guides, travelogue journals, etc.

History
The creation of a database for indexing and supporting the study of the vast, yet rare, material on travel literature relating to South-Eastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean from the 15th to the 19th century began in 1988 at the Institute for Neohellenic Research, under the supervision of the then Institute’s Director Loukia Droulia. Researchers and collaborators of the Institute (in alphabetical order: Elisa-Anna Delveroudi: 1988-1990, Eugenia Drakopoulou: 1993-1996, Ourania Polycandrioti: 1990-2000, Ilia Sangmeister-Chatzipanagioti: 1992-1996, George Tolias: 1995-2000, Ioli Vingopoulou: 1987-2014) as well as a number of external collaborators contributed to the project by inputting data based on research in libraries and private collections in Greece and abroad. The database contains entries relating to printed publications (books and articles) or manuscripts by travelers, as well as illustration material contained in them or in loose-leaf format (engravings illustrating landscapes, antiquities, human types, frontispieces of books, topographical plans, photographs, etc.). Size: 2,500 (approximately) data-files relating to travel writings, and 500 (approximately) data-files on illustrations. Part of the database has been redesigned so as to comply with international standards, and has been enriched with illustration and bibliographical entries, in order to be integrated into the Digital Thesaurus of Primary Sources for Greek History and Culture “Pandektis”. Within the IHR collaborative project “Kyrtou Plegmata”, funded by the Greek state, the database has been also integrated into a geographical information system (GIS) in order the give multiple search possibilities to the user through a digital interactive map.
The database is being updated with new digital tools.

The Database
The Database contains information on (i) each travel edition and its specific characteristics, (ii) on the traveler(s), the person’s aims and itinerary (detailed transcription of name-places), (iii) the illustrations of each edition (separate data base).

 

(viii) Historiography (16th-20th c.)

Members
Supervisor: Triantafyllos Sklavenitis, Research Director Emer.
Coordinator: Ourania Polycandrioti, Research Director
Researchers: Sophia Matthaiou, Senior Researcher; Alexandra Sfoini, Senior Researcher

As a topic, the History of Historiography has not been thoroughly promoted in the field of Neohellenic studies despite a demand for its development, together with certain initial philological contributions to its charting. When the program was instituted in 1995, it was staffed solely by only one researcher, Triantafyllos Ε. Sklavenitis, who was partially committed to it. Its objective was to pave the way for a future development of the research topic in Greece, which was otherwise prominent at an international level.

History
The initial objective of the Program was to index the works of Neohellenic Chronography and Historiography in mostly printed, but also manuscript, form, from the 16th century until 1900, concurrently shedding light on issues and topics arising from periodization: 1. The transition from manuscript chronography to printed volumes (mid-17th c.) and the modernization (in the second half of the 18th c.). 2. The emergence of Hellenism’s historical consciousness and the transition from sacred to world-wide secular chronography in the years of the Enlightenment (1750-1832). 3. The course of the forging of Greek national awareness in the mid-19th century, which was also founded upon the perception of unity and the continuity of Greek history, with the additional assistance of the theoretical conjectures arising from political Romanticism, historicism and nationalism. 4. The study of Marxist historiography and its role in the study of the history of modern Hellenism. 5. The structure of academic historiography, as well as its teaching and popularization. 6. Peripheral historiography with the example of the historiography of the Ionian Islands and, as a case study, the regional history of the island of Lefkada.
Beyond participation in conferences, symposia and meetings with Papers on subjects on the history of historiography and publication of partial studies and books, from 2005 to 2009 the Program organized a post-graduate seminar for students at the Panteion University’s Department of Political Science and History and Athens University’s Department of History and Archaeology, entitled “History of neo-Hellenic Historiography (18th – 20th c)”. In 2002, the Fourth International Conference on History by the NHRF’s Institute of Neohellenic Research, on the subject of ''The Historiography of contemporary Greece of recent times (1833-2002)'' was considered a success for the program, the proceedings of which, containing 70 papers, were published in two volumes in 2004, and equally successful was the organization of the presented topics. “Historiography and philology of the Ionian Islands, 16th-20th c.”, with seven Papers, at the 7th International Panionian Conference, Lefkada 2002, the Proceedings of which circulated in 2004, as well as of the Conference Lefkada and its historians, 19th-20th c. in 2008, whose Proceedings were published in 2009.
Solely for the period from 2004 to 2010, the program acquired a research assistant, who in 2008 was promoted to associate researcher albeit also elected Lecturer at the University of Crete.
The indexing conducted by the Program’s supervisor, Triantafyllos E. Sklavenitis, of printed works of modern Hellenic chronography and historiography (16th c. – 1900, indices in 2000) has been organized forming a database and posted open-access on the internet (http://historiography.ekt.gr/). The database has also been integrated in the IHR collaborative Project “Kyrtou Plegmata”.

Databases
The works of modern Hellenic chronography and historiography (16c.-1900). Database-titles of 2000 printed works of historiography”. Posted on the Web: http://historiography.ekt.gr/

 

(ix) Sources of Cypriot Learning and History

General Editor: Paschalis M. Kitromilides, Professor emeritus, University of Athens, Director, Institute for Neohellenic Research/NHRF (2000-2011).
Program Supervisor: Eugenia Drakopoulou, Research Director

The research and publication program “Sources of Cypriot Learning and History”, aims at bringing into the focus of scholarly research the cultural history of Cyprus during the period 1571-1878. Its object is the publication in modern critical editions of unpublished or generally inaccessible sources in Greek and other European languages, which document the survival of Cyprus’s European identity, not only in intellectual life but in society and politics as well. The program is sponsored by the A. G. Leventis Foundation.
Duration of the project: 2006 to 2023.

The following volumes have been published until today:
1. Neophytos Rodinos ΒίοςΜαρτύριον τοῦ ἐν ἁγίοις πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἰγνατίου ἈρχιεπισκόπουΚωνσταντινουπόλεως [Life or Martyrdom of our father among Saints Ignatius, Archbishop of Constantinople], ed. by P. M. Kitromilides – Charalambos Messis, Athens: Institute for Neohellenic Research/NHRF, 2008.
2.Κυπριακές Πηγές για την Άλωση της Αμμοχώστου [Cypriot Sources on the Fall of Famagusta], ed. by P. M. Kitromilides, Athens: Institute for Neohellenic Research/NHRF, 2011.
3. Philip Membre, Warhafftige und unterschiedliche Beschreibung, wie die Türcken anfengtlich das treffliche Königreich und Insel Cypern mit grosser Macht überfallen und darinnen die Hauptstadt Nicosia mit gewalt erobert / Αξιόπιστη και λεπτομερής περιγραφή των γεγονότων, πώς οι Τούρκοι άρχισαν την επίθεσή τους με ισχυρέςδυνάμεις εναντίον του λαμπρού Βασιλείου και της νήσου Κύπρου και εξεπόρθησαν βίαια την πρωτεύουσα αυτούΛευκωσία, ed. by P. M. Kitromilides – Elsie Tornaritou-Mathiopoulou, Athens: Institute for Neohellenic Research/NHRF, 2013. Second edition, 2015.
4. Animam Deo Reddit, The Parish Register of the Dead, Santa Maria of Larnaca (1729-1824), ed. by Mia Gaia Trentin Athens: Institute for Neohellenic Research/NHRF, 2016.
5. Κυπριακὴ συλλογὴ Πετραρχικῶν καὶ ἄλλων Ἀναγεννησιακῶν ποιημάτων [The Cypriot collection of Petrarchan and other Renaissance poems], ed. by P. M. Kitromilides, introduction Elsie Tornaritou-Mathiopoulou, accompanying studies by Giovanna Carbonaro, Eirini Papadaki, Athens: Institute for Historical Research/NHRF, 2018.

 

(x) The Constantinople Patriarchate’s Archives

The project started in 2017 with funds from the “Ecumenical Patriarchate’s Brotherhood of Dignitaries” and the “J. F. Costopoulos Foundation” and its object is the identification, rescue and digitization, as well as the publication of studies that will provide the scholarly community with historical material from the Patriarchate of Constantinople dating from the 15th to the 19th century.

Scientific supervisor: Dimitris G. Apostolopoulos, Research Director emeritus, Institute of Historical Research/NHRF
Program Supervisor: Sophia Matthaiou, Senior Researcher

See the COMPLETED PROGRAM
Institutions and Ideology in Greek Society (15th-19th cent.)

 

 

Program in Collaboration

 

Cultural mediators between Greece, France and other European countries, 1830-1974. Professors - Translators - Publishers / Médiateurs culturels entre Grèce, France et autres pays européens, 1830-1974. Professeurs – Traducteurs – Éditeurs.

Médiateurs Présentation du Projet [pdf]

Coordinator:
Ourania Polycandrioti, Research Director

The research project «Cultural Mediators between Greece, France and other European countries, 1830-1974» is a collaboration of the IHR Project “Modern Greek Literature and History of Ideas, 15th-20th c.” with the French School at Athens and has been included in the 5-year program of the French School (2017-2021), which funds part of the program’s activities. The main subject of the project is as follows:
Professors, scholars, translators, publishers are key persons to the thorough study of cultural transfers during the long period from the foundation of the Greek state (1830) to the fall of the dictatorship (1974). From a methodological point of view, the research approach is essentially prosopographical / biographical, so that behind the individuals the study focuses on the different types of cultural mediation and transfers, as well as on the institutions with which the cultural mediators are connected. The research aims to study cultural mediation through foreign language teachers’ intercultural networks, translation networks, translators and journals, publishing and translation policies, history of university chairs and foundations etc.
Our aim is to create a dynamic and open access website, which will contain a database of historical data, studies, digitized documents, texts and images, in order to portray, study and document the work of scholars and cultural mediators, those who are already known in bibliography, but also those who are much less known, for the period 1830-1974. The website will contain (a) the biographical presentation of each individual, (b) the critical presentation of the person’s activity, (c) studies related to these persons and their context in general, (d) related literature (digital and printed), (e) digitized documentation and pictorial material.

Within the context of the project, a Memorandum of Collaboration has been signed between the NHRF and the University of Patras. The participants to the project are 23 scholars and researchers coming from the following universities and research institutions: National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, University of Patras, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University of Ioannina, Ionian University, University of the Peloponnese, Panteion University, Hellenic Open University, Université de Tours, INALCO-CREE, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Paris), Modern Greek Institute of Sorbonne (Paris).
The Database will be attached to the '19th & 20th Century' Prosopography website, to be created within the framework of the IHR/NHRF program ‘Anavathmis’. Any pictorial documentation will be linked to Pandectis’ database «Neohellenic prosopography» in order to exploit the existing research infrastructure of the NHRF.

 

Conferences and Events

2001-2018 (selection)

  • Seminar on Comparative Literature and History of Ideas
    Workshop
    Tendances actuelles de la littérature comparée dans le Sud-Est de l’Europe
    (Athens, NHRF, 3-4 September 2001).
  • Seminar on Comparative Literature and History of Ideas
    Colloque international
    Transferts culturels / osmoses, divergences et convergences dans les traditions et les canons littéraires et dramatiques du Sud-Est européen (XVIIIe-XXe siècles)
    (Athens, NHRF, 31 October – 1 November 2003).
  • Ramsès-2, Réseau Euro-méditerranéen d’excellence des centres de recherche en Sciences Humaines sur l’aire méditerranéenne. Work Package I.1: Mémoires en Méditerranée, entre histoire et politique. (Maison Méditerranéenne des Sciences de l’Homme – Université d’Aix-en-Provence – CNRS).
    Retours au passé. Mémoires politisées, mémoires expatriées
    Atelier: Mémoires en Méditerranée. Entre histoire et politique
    Responsables: Maryline Crivello, Ourania Polycandrioti
    (Athens, NHRF, 30-31 March 2007).
  • International Colloquium
    Ernest Renan et la Grèce. Philosophie, langue et politique
    In collaboration with the Department of French Language and Literature – University of Athens and the French Institute – French Embassy at Athens
    (Athens, NHRF, 3 April 2009).
  • Colloquium
    Literature and the visual arts
    In collaboration with the Greek General and Comparative Literature Association
    (Athens, NHRF, 3 October 2010).
  • International Colloquium
    L’espace Méditerranéen: écriture de l’exil, migrances et discours post-colonial / The Mediterranean: writing exile, immigrations and postcolonial discourse
    In collaboration with the Department of Political Science and International Relations – University of Peloponnese and the Estudio de Literaturas Transnacionales Europeas ELITE / Université Autonome de Madrid
    (Athens, NHRF, 5-6 November 2010).
  • Congress
    The poetics of landscape
    In collaboration with the Greek General and Comparative Literature Asoociation
    (Athens, NHRF, 19-22 January 2012).
  • International Colloquium
    L’histoire dans l’espace public. Producteurs, pratiques, transmissions, entre Atlantique et Méditerranée
    Participation to the Scientific Committe (Ourania Polycandrioti). Organizers: UMR 7303 Temps, Espaces, Langages, Europe Méridionnale - Méditerranée, Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS (Telemme) – Institut d’histoire du temps présent, UPR 301 του CNRS (IHTP) – Institut de recherche sur le Maghreb contemporain, USR 3077, ministère des Affaires étrangères et européennes, ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche scientifique και CNRS (IRMC) – Centre interuniversitaire d’études sur les lettres, les arts et les traditions à l’Université Laval (CÉLAT). (MuCEM, Musée des Civilisations Européennes et Méditerranéennes, Marseille, 1-3 October 2015).
  • International Workshop
    Αθήνα – Παρίσι 1945-1975. Λογοτεχνία και Πολιτική / Athènes – Paris 1945-1975. Littérature et politique
    In collaboration with the French School at Athens (Athens, 6 October 2016).
  • Doctoral Workshop for PhD candidates (Athens: NHRF & ÉfA, 9 - 13 May 2016)
    Repenser la Méditerranée. Questions d’Histoire et d’Historiographie en Méditerranée orientale. Histoire(s) de la Méditerranée - Histoire(s) en Méditerranée. / Rethinking the Mediterranean. History and Historiography issues on the Eastern Mediterranean. History - Histories of the Mediterranean. Story - Stories in the Mediterranean
    https://docramses.hypotheses.org/atelier-2016-questions-dhistoriographie-en-mediterranee-orientale
    Organizers and Scientific coordination: Ourania Polycandrioti (IHR/NHRF), Tassos Anastassiadis (McGill, ÉfA).

    The Doctoral Workshop History - Histories of the Mediterranean / Story - Stories in the Mediterranean offered an international framework for exchange and discussion of analytical and methodological issues on the Mediterranean. The aim was to question how researchers can approach the Mediterranean, as a historical and geographical entity, as an object of historiography, and/or as an analytical category.

    The network of research centers specialized in social sciences & humanities in the Mediterranean (RAMSES) organized a series of itinerant doctoral workshops in social sciences and humanities. These training sessions offered a methodological and epistemological reflection in the field of Mediterranean studies. The 2016 session has been organized by the French School at Athens and the National Hellenic Research Foundation, in the framework of the RAMSES project supported by the A*MIDEX foundation. It dealt with “History and Historiography issues on the Eastern Mediterranean. History - Histories of the Mediterranean / Story - Stories in the Mediterranean”. 16 doctoral students were selected to participate in a week long training with presentations and discussions of around PhD projects, plenary conferences, personalized meetings as well as the visit of the National Library, the General Archives of State and the Historical Archives of the Benaki Museum. The discussions have been animated by 20 scholars coming from Greek Universities and research centers in Greece and in France.

 

Seminars and Lectures

  • Lecture
    Terry Eagleton, The death of criticism?
    In collaboration with the Department of Literature – University of Ioannina and the British Council at Athens
    (Athens, NHRF, 30-31 November 2008).
  • Series of Seminars: Athènes – Paris 1945-1975. Littérature et politique / Αθήνα – Παρίσι 1945-1975. Λογοτεχνία και Πολιτική(École Française d’Athènes, 2013-2014). The lectures have all been videotaped and posted on the website of the French School at Athens (https://videotheque.efa.gr./).
    • Lucile Arnoux-Farnoux (University of Tours), Ourania Polycandrioti (IHR/NHRF), «Introduction générale» – Takis Théodoropoulos (writer), «Camus et Malraux à Athènes» (27 March 2013).
    • Lizy Tsirimokou (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) «À l’époque de l’engagement. Louis Aragon et les Grecs» (24 April 2013).
    • Christina Dounia (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), «Paul Éluard en Grèce: Athènes 1946 – Grammos 1949» (15 May 2013).
    • Dimitris Raftopoulos (literary critic, writer), «Un écrivain grec à Paris». Presentation/discussant: Lizy Tsirimokou, (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) (12 June 2013).
    • Ioanna Constandulaki-Hantzou (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), «François Mauriac – Jean Cocteau: deux regards sur la Grèce de l’après-guerre» (2 October 2013).
    • Vassilis Alexakis (writer), «Une langue pour rire, une langue pour parler» (13 November 2013).
    • Titos Patrikios (poet), «Un poète grec à Paris» (11 December 2013).
    • Alki Zei (writer), «À Paris au temps de la dictature» (29 January 2014).
    • Marie-Élisabeth Mitsou (École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales), «"L'enfer c'est les autres". L'existentialisme en Grèce de l'après-guerre» (26 February 2014).
    • Christos Daniil (Hellenic Open University and Cyprus Open University), «Matsie Hadjilazarou à Paris. Du Mataroa à Picasso» (March 2014).
    • Vassiliki Lalagianni (University of Peloponnese), «Écrire la mémoire et l'exil: Mimika Kranaki et Lilika Nakou» (9 April 2014).

 

 

 

Collaborations

The research project Modern Greek Literature and History of Ideas collaborates with the:

  • RAMSES: Network of excellence of research centers specialized in social sciences & humanities in the Mediterranean (RAMSES). Maison Méditerranéenne des Sciences de l’Homme – CNRS – Aix-Marseille University.
  •  Greek contribution to the program Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism in Europe (ERNiE). Printed version: Joep Leerssen (ed.), Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism in Europe, Amsterdam University Press, 2018 (2010-2015).
  •  Editing of the Greek entries of the Bibliographie internationale de l’Humanisme et de la Renaissance (Genève, Librairie Droz), a project under the supervision of the Conseil International de la Philosophie et des Sciences Humaines, and the support of Fonds National Suisse de la Recherche Scientifique and UNESCO (2011-2014, coordinator: Sophia Matthaiou).
  • Publication of the Corais Bibliography (1771-1985), compiled by the late Filippos Iliou; a corpus that includes the titles of the Corais Bibliography, as well as the bibliography concerning Corais (monographs, articles in periodicals and newspapers). The project (2007 -) is supervised by Kostas Lappas (former Director of the Research Centre for Medieval and Modern Hellenism, Academy of Athens). The project is supported by the Greek Society for Eighteenth Century Studies.
  • Network COST Action IS 1310 Reassembling the Republic of Letters, 1500-1800. A digital framework for multilateral collaboration on Europe’s intellectual history of Oxford University. (http://www.republicofletters.net). (2015-2018, Alexandra Sfoini).
  • Project Migrating Ideas in the Slavic Balkans (17th-20th centuries (http://ireteslaw.ispan.waw.pl/handle/123456789/586) (Polish Academy of Sciences 2016-2017, Alexandra Sfoini, Niketas Siniossoglou).
  • Exhibition European heritage of Humanism (EUNIC) (https://www.eunicglobal.eu/projects/eunic-austria-europe-of-humanists) (University of Vienna, Sophia Matthaiou, Alexandra Sfoini).
  • History of Social and Political Concepts Group (HSPCG) (Alexandra Sfoini).
  • Société d’Études des Théories et Pratiques en Traduction (SEPTET) (Alexandra Sfoini).
  • Research Centre for Medieval and Modern Hellenism, Academy of Athens. (Sophia Matthaiou).

Collaboration with the French School at Athens (École Française d’Athènes)

  • Project “Athens – Paris 1945-1975”
    January 2012 January 2017.
  • Project “Médiateurs culturels entre Grèce, France et autres pays européens, 1830-1974. Professeurs – Traducteurs – Éditeurs.”
    (2017-2021).
  • Project “La Grèce antique / byzantine et les Expositions universelles 1851-1939”. École Française d' Athènes - École Normale Supérieure Paris - Institute of Historical Research/NHRF. Coordinator: Annick Fenet. (Sophia Matthaiou, Georges Tolias).

Collaborations of the Project “Historiography (16th-20th c.)”

  • Cultural Center of Lefkada and Society for the Study of Lefkada (coordination of conferences).
  • Postgraduate Seminar in collaboration with Dimitris Arvanitakis (Benaki Museum) and Vangelis Karamanolakis (Faculty of History and Archaeology – National and Kapodistrian University of Athens).

 

 

Prizes - Distinctions

Niketas Siniossoglou, Winner, 2018 PROSE Award for Single Volume Reference/Humanities and Social Sciences for The Cambridge Intellectual History of Byzantium (co-edited with Anthony Kaldellis), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2018.

 

Publications

Books (selection)

Sophia Matthaiou, Στέφανος Α. Κουμανούδης (1818-1899). Σχεδίασμα βιογραφίας [Stephanos A. Koumanoudis (1818-1899). A Biography], Library of the Archaeological Society at Athens, Athens 1999, 303 p.
——, (editor in collaboration with Pantelis Carelos), Stephanos A. Koumanoudis’ unpublished writings 1837-1845. The diary 1837-1845 - An incomplete treatise against Fallmerayer, Institute for Neohellenic Research / NHRF, Athens 2010, 318 p.
—— (editor of the Greek entries), Bibliographie internationale de l'Humanisme et de la Renaissance, XLIII- XLIV, Travaux parus 2007-2008, Genève, Librairie Droz, 2011-2012.
—— (ed. with Athina Chatzidimitriou), «Ξενιτεμένες» ελληνικές αρχαιότητες. Αφετηρίεςκαιδιαδρομές [“Expatriated” Greek Antiquities: Departures and trajectories],Institute for Neohellenic Research / NHRF -125, Athens 2012, 257 p.
—— (ed.), Μαρίκα Αντωνοπούλου. Ημερολόγιο Κατοχής 1941-1944 [Marika Antonopoulou. A diary of the period of German Occupation in Greece 1941-1944],Patakis, Athens 2014, 414 p.
—— (ed. with Paschalis M. Kitromilides), Greek-Serbian Relations in the Age of Nation-Building, National Hellenic Research Foundation / Institute of Historical Research (Section of Neohellenic Research), Athens 2016, 257 p.

Ourania Polycandrioti, Takis Theodoropoulos, La Méditerranée grecque, series: Les Représentations de la Méditerranée, tome 6, Collection «Monde Méditerranéen», Maisonneuve et Larose, 2000, 56p.
—— (ed. and Introduction with Z.I. Siaflekis), Ταυτότητα και Ετερότητα στη Λογοτεχνία, 18ος-20ός αι., τ. Β΄: Μύθοι, Γένη, Θέματα [Identity and Alterity in Literature, 18th-20th century, vol. 2: Myths, Genres, Themes], Proceedings of the 2nd International Congress of the Greek General and Comparative Literature Association, Domos Editions, Athens 2000, 359 p.
—— (ed. and Introduction with Z.I. Siaflekis), Expressions et représentations littéraires de la Méditerranée : Îles et ports, 16e-20e siècles, Symposium Proceedings (European Cultural Centre of Delphi, 5-6 November 1999), series: “Studies and Researches”-1, Greek General and Comparative Literature Association, Patakis Editions, Athens 2002, 165 p. («Avant-Propos», p. 9-17).
——, Identité culturelle. Littérature, histoire, mémoire, sous la direction de Ourania Polycandrioti, Τετράδια Εργασίας [Research Notebooks] 30, Institut de Recherches Néohelléniques, Fondation Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique, Athènes 2006, 220 p. («Introduction», p. 15-29).
http://www.ine-notebooks.org/index.php/te/index/view/7
——, Les échelles de la mémoire en Méditerranée, Edited by Maryline Crivello, Coordinated by Karine-Larissa Basset, Dimitri Nicolaïdis and Ourania Polycandrioti, Actes Sud / Maison Méditerranéenne des Sciences de l’Homme, coll.: “Études méditerranéennes”, 362 p.
——, Η διάπλαση των Ελλήνων. Αριστοτέλης Π. Κουρτίδης (1858-1928) [The Molding the Greeks. Aristotle P. Kourtidis (1858-1928)], Institute of Neohellenic Research / National Hellenic Research Foundation-123 (ISBN: 978-960-9538-05-3), Historical Archives of the Greek Youth / General Secretariat of the New Generation-48 (ISBN: 978-960-7138-43-9), Athens 2011, 430 p.
(Editor), Figures d’intellectuels en Méditerranée, 18e-20e siècles, Coordination du dossier, revue Rives méditerranéennes, 50 (2015), 154 p.
https://rives.revues.org/4760
(Editor in collaboration with Anna Tabaki), Ελληνικότητα και ετερότητα. Πολιτισμικές διαμεσολαβήσεις και ‘εθνικός χαρακτήρας’ στον 19ο αιώνα [Greek identity and alterity. Cultural transfers and ‘national character’ in 19th c.], Colloquium Proceedings, edited by Anna Tabaki, Ourania Polycandrioti, Department of Theatre Studies / University of Athens, Institute of Historical Research / National Hellenic Research Foundation, Labex TransferS, Athens 2016, 2 vols (472+562 p.).
http://chrisalis.eu/images/tomos_a/files/assets/basic-html/page-1.html#
http://chrisalis.eu/images/tomos_b/files/assets/basic-html/page-1.html#
http://transfers.ens.fr/grecite-et-alteritetransferts-culturels-et-caractere-national-au-xixe-siecle
(Editor in collaboration with Loïc Marcou) and Preface of the special issue, «Littérature médiatique et transferts culturels en France, en Grèce et dans l’espace méditerranéen», Historical Review / Revue Historique, vol. 14 (2017).

Alexandra Sfoini, Ξένοι συγγραφείς μεταφρασμένοι ελληνικά (15ος-17ος αι.) [Foreign authors translated in Modern greek, 15th-18th centuries], SNR/IHR/NHRF, Athens 2003, 245 p.
—, (ed. – introduction) Ιστορία των εννοιών. Διαδρομές της ευρωπαϊκής ιστοριογραφίας, [History of Concepts. Itineraries of the European Historiography], Theories and Studies of History 20, Society for the Study of Modern Hellenism – Mnimon, Athens 2006, 336 p.
—, (ed.) Special section “Αυθεντίες. Κύρος και εξουσία στον χώρο της οθωμανικής και βενετικής κυριαρχίας 15ος-19ος αι.” [Authorities. Prestige and power during the othoman and venetian domination, 15th-19th c.], in collaboration with Eleutheria Zei (preface: Spyros Asdrachas), Τα Ιστορικά [Historica], 59 (2013), p. 278-471.
—, (ed. – preface) Special section “Transferts culturels et traduction (XVIIIe-XXE siècles)”, Historical Review / La Revue Historique, ΧΙΙΙ (2015), σ. 9-141.
—, (ed. – preface), Loukia Droulia, Philhellénisme. Ouvrages inspirés par la guerre de l’Indépendance grecque 1821-1833, Seconde édition revue et corigée sous la direction de Alexandra Sfoini, SNR/IHR/NHRF, Athens 2017, 536 p.
—, Ξένοι συγγραφείς μεταφρασμένοι ελληνικά 1700-1832) [Foreign authors translated in Modern greek, 1700-1832], SNR/IHR/NHRF, Athens 2019.

Niketas Siniossoglou, Plato and Theodoret: The Christian Appropriation of Platonic Philosophy and the Hellenic Intellectual Resistance, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2008.
, Radical Platonism in Byzantium: Illumination and Utopia in Gemistos Plethon, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2011.
, Αλλόκοτος Ελληνισμός. Δοκίμιο για την οριακή εμπειρία των ιδεών[Uncanny Hellenism. Essay on the liminal experience of ideas], Athens, Kichli Publishing, 2016.
, Μαύρες Διαθήκες. Δοκίμιο για τα όρια της ημερολογιακής γραφής [The Black Testament of Modern Philosophy: Essay on Heidegger’s “Black Notebooks” and Carl Schmitt’s “Glossarium”], Athens, Kichli Publishing, 2018.
, The Cambridge Intellectual History of Byzantium (co-edited with Anthony Kaldellis), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2018.

George Tolias, ΟΠυρετόςΤωνΜαρμάρων, ΜαρτυρίεςγιατηνΛεηλασίατωνΕλληνικώνΜνημείων 1800-1820 [Marble fever: Testimonies for the looting of Greek monuments 1800-1820], Athens, Olkos, 1996, 262 p. (2nd ed. To Vima, 2010).
——, La Médaille et la rouille. Images de la Grèce moderne dans la presse littéraire parisienne 1794-1815, Paris & Athènes, Hatier, 1997, 530 p.
—— (co-editor with M. Georgopoulou, C. Guilmet, Y. Pikoulas et C. Staikos), ΣταβήματατουΠαυσανία: ηαναζήτησητηςΕλληνικήςαρχαιότητας [Following Pausanias: The Quest for Greek Antiquity], New Castle, DE / Athens, Oak Knoll Press / Kotinos Publications for the NHRF and the Gennadion Library, 2007, 253 p.

 

Publications of the Project “Historiography (16th-20th c.)”

Triantafyllos E. Sklavenitis (co-editor with Paschalis M. Kitromilides), Δ΄ Διεθνές Συνέδριο Ιστορίας, Ιστοριογραφία της νεότερης και σύγχρονης Ελλάδας 1833-2002, Πρακτικά [Fourth International Conference of History, Historiography of Modern and Contemporary Greece 1833-2002], Proceedings, 2 vols, IHS-NHRF, 2004.
(co-editor with Spyros I. Asdrachas), Πρακτικά του Συνεδρίου Η Λευκάδα και οι ιστορικοί της, 19ος-20ός αι., Πνευματικό Κέντρο Δήμου Λευκάδας, Γιορτές Λόγου και Τέχνης, Λευκάδα 5-7 Αυγούστου 2008 [Proceedings of the Conference Lefkada and its Historians, 19th-20th c.], August 5-7, 2008, Cultural Center of Lefkada, Athens 2009.

Ioannis Koubourlis, La formation de l’histoire nationale grecque. L’apport de Spyridon Zambélios (1815-1881), IHS/NHRF, 87, Athens 2005, 381 p.
—, Οι ιστοριογραφικές οφειλές των Σπ. Ζαμπέλιου και Κ. Παπαρρηγόπουλου. Η συμβολή Ελλήνων και ξένων στη διαμόρφωση του τρίσημου σχήματος του ελληνικού ιστορισμού (1782-1846) [Historiographical Influences upon Sp. Zambelios and K. Paparrigopoulos. Greek and Foreigner Scholars’ Contribution Towards Forming the Tripartite Scheme of Greek Historicism (1782-1846)], Athens: IHR/NHRF, 2012, 597p.

 

 

 

 

 

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