The Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation organizes a Round Table Discussion on the meaning of national literature on the occasion of K. Zanou’s book Stuttering the Nation. Transnational Patriotism in the Mediterranean, 1800-1850 (Alexandria, 2022).
The book presents the story of a generation of Ionian intellectuals, creators and political figures – from Hugo Foscolo, Kalvos and Solomos to Kapodistrias, Andreas Moustoxidis and Nikolos Tomazeo, who experienced the collapse of the Venetian State and the dissolution of the common cultural and political space of the Adriatic. Eminent witnesses of the long transition from a world of empires to a world of nation-states, they contributed to the emergence of Greek and Italian nationalism, decisively shaping their vocabulary.
The presentations will move through concepts such as nation, ethnicity, nationalism, patriotism, enlightenment, liberalism, internationalism and will try, through short stories, to illuminate big questions.
Speakers
- Karen Emmerich, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature, Department of Comparative Literature, Princeton University.
- Konstantina Zanou, Assistant Professor of Italian and Mediterranean Studies, Department of Italian, Columbia University.
- Vassilis Lambropoulos, Professor Emeritus of Modern Greek, C.P. Cavafy Chair, Department of Classics and Comparative Literature, University of Michigan.
- Maria Boletsi, Professor of Modern Greek Studies, Marilena Laskaridis Chair, University of Amsterdam.
