Literature: people’s stories

The “Literature: people’s stories” cycle seeks to shed light on individual life stories which, having acquired a mythic dimension by being set down on paper in book form, can go so far as to influence a nation’s cultural, social and even political life.

In this context, we shall begin with a discussion of the extent to which the prose biography is as developed and important a genre in Greece as it is elsewhere, and, if not, why not.

Bearing witness from the front lines of our contemporary era will also be discussed, as will politicians’ memoires, the challenges posed by autobiography, and the case of Alexander Papadiamantis, a writer who recorded interesting stories about people but also chose the life of a literary hero of sorts. Finally, we will turn our attention to a somewhat neglected figure: Prince Dimitrie Cantemir, Voivode of Moldavia, one of the greatest Greek composers of Constantinople, and among the most widely-read scholars of his age.