Cultural diversity and Ottoman heritage in contemporary Greek popular novels

TY - ABST

T1 - Cultural diversity and Ottoman heritage in contemporary Greek popular novels

AU - Willert, Trine Stauning

N1 - Conference code: 23

PY - 2014

Y1 - 2014

N2 - Public and scholarly interest in the impact of Ottoman history and culture on the successor states is increasing. Cultural co-existence in Ottoman society is explored perhaps in an attempt to find answers in the past to contemporary challenges emerging from transnational mobility/migration. Such interest is obvious in international academia as well as in the cultural sphere of the countries in South-eastern Europe. In Greece, the recent celebration of the 100 years of Thessaloniki’s incorporation in the Greek state has accentuated the city’s Ottoman heritage. A plenitude of exhibitions, publications and cultural events have highlighted the cultural complexity of the city’s past, thus breaking with the collective memory cultivated in the twentieth century based on the myth of national cultural homogeneity. In the field of literature there has been a boom of well-selling novels situated in Ottoman times and many are (partly) set in Thessaloniki. The proposed paper presents preliminary findings of a research project on new cultural representations in Greece of the Ottoman past. Widely read novels by Ζουργός (2004), Χριστόπουλος (2005), Θέμελης (2008) and Καλπούζος (2008, 2011) are analysed with regard to the meaning allocated to past cultural diversity. For some it appears as a source of inspiration to and understanding of today’s intercultural challenges (Χριστόπουλος and Θέμελης), while others approach the diversity in more traditional ‘romaio-centric’ ways (Καλπούζος). The analysis will place the contemporary novels in relation to earlier Greek literature dealing with cultural identity in the Ottoman period from different angles (e.g. Βιζυηνός, Δέλτα, Σωτηρίου, Φακίνος, Γαλανάκη).

AB - Public and scholarly interest in the impact of Ottoman history and culture on the successor states is increasing. Cultural co-existence in Ottoman society is explored perhaps in an attempt to find answers in the past to contemporary challenges emerging from transnational mobility/migration. Such interest is obvious in international academia as well as in the cultural sphere of the countries in South-eastern Europe. In Greece, the recent celebration of the 100 years of Thessaloniki’s incorporation in the Greek state has accentuated the city’s Ottoman heritage. A plenitude of exhibitions, publications and cultural events have highlighted the cultural complexity of the city’s past, thus breaking with the collective memory cultivated in the twentieth century based on the myth of national cultural homogeneity. In the field of literature there has been a boom of well-selling novels situated in Ottoman times and many are (partly) set in Thessaloniki. The proposed paper presents preliminary findings of a research project on new cultural representations in Greece of the Ottoman past. Widely read novels by Ζουργός (2004), Χριστόπουλος (2005), Θέμελης (2008) and Καλπούζος (2008, 2011) are analysed with regard to the meaning allocated to past cultural diversity. For some it appears as a source of inspiration to and understanding of today’s intercultural challenges (Χριστόπουλος and Θέμελης), while others approach the diversity in more traditional ‘romaio-centric’ ways (Καλπούζος). The analysis will place the contemporary novels in relation to earlier Greek literature dealing with cultural identity in the Ottoman period from different angles (e.g. Βιζυηνός, Δέλτα, Σωτηρίου, Φακίνος, Γαλανάκη).

M3 - Conference abstract for conference

T2 - MGSA Symposium 2013

Y2 - 14 November 2013 through 16 November 2013

ER -