The Image of ruins in Greek aestheticism: evoking the distant past and reflecting the human emotion

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to present the image of ruins in Greek Aestheticism, as it appeared in the last decade of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth century in Greek literature. This research will be mainly focused on the works of Nikolaos Episkopopoulos, Constantinos Christomanos and Platon Rodokanakis, who are the writers mostly connected to the Aestheticism in Greek literature. The image of ruins, literally or metaphorically used, has different functions in their works as it either evokes the glorious distant past, or it reflects the inner world and the intimate thoughts of the main characters. Ruins become the means to experience a historical reality, to express melancholy or even emotional and spiritual devastation. Moreover, this work presents the interrelation that exists between the European Aesthetic Movement in literature and Aestheticism as it appeared and evolved in Greece, pinpointing at the same time the assimilation of the European characteristics of Aestheticism in Greek literature.