Transferrings through the Mosaic of (Literary) Landscapes.
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Date
2007
Authors
Dounis, Konstandina
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Department of Languages - Modern Greek
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Abstract
"The House with the Eucalypts", first published in 1975, constitutes a collection of poems in Greek by Dimitris Tsaloumas. In a bid to transmit these poems to a wider, always appreciative English speaking readership of this writer’s creative output, and as a means of extending the parameters of the Tsaloumas canon, Dounis decided to translate them into English. Though a daunting task, the process also proved singularly productive in that it afforded a profound level of affinity with each word, nuance and silence within a framework of biculturalism and bilingualism. The island of Leros is the unifying image that binds the threads of the collection together. Sight, smell and touch all revolve around metaphors radiating the specificity of that particular spot that the poet perceived as his particular home (land) — his topos: a place that belongs to him and that he belongs to in terms of primordial birthright. Although the atmosphere is that of journeying back through the mists of time, Tsaloumas’ evocation is neither nostalgic nor romantic, but very lucid in its portrayal of island life in the 1940s. Memory reaches an apotheosis of form in this collection, fortified by the desire to attain a mosaic of antithetical facets as encompassed within physical and metaphorical boundaries.
Description
Konstandina Dounis, living writers, Australian literature, English, literary criticism, Antigone Kefala, exile, motif, theme, 'Introductory Note', "The Greek Islands", Lawrence Durrell, World War Two, WWII, World War II, 'The Barge', 'Falcon Drinking', memory, remember, foreign, 'The Distant Present', Jung, "The Peculiar Songs of Master Yiannis the Rake", lyrics, nonsensical, psychological, folksong, folk song, rhetorical question, birds, symbols, migration, theatre, "King Lear" Fool, Shakespeare, humour, tragedy, oral tradition, wind, breezes, άνεμο, air, Σοροκάδες, fierce south-east winds, ανεμολλιάρα ανεμοζάλη, wild-haired storm, αγέρα, 'Elegy', transience, μελτέμια, north-west wind, hot-summer winds, Wellek and Warren, Susan Sontag, 'Against Interpretation' Konstandina Dounis, living writers, Australian literature, English, literary criticism, Antigone Kefala, exile, motif, theme, 'Introductory Note', "The Greek Islands", Lawrence Durrell, World War Two, WWII, World War II, 'The Barge', 'Falcon Drinking', memory, remember, foreign, 'The Distant Present', Jung, "The Peculiar Songs of Master Yiannis the Rake", lyrics, nonsensical, psychological, folksong, folk song, rhetorical question, birds, symbols, migration, theatre, "King Lear" Fool, Shakespeare, humour, tragedy, oral tradition, wind, breezes, άνεμο, air, Σοροκάδες, fierce south-east winds, ανεμολλιάρα ανεμοζάλη, wild-haired storm, αγέρα, 'Elegy', transience, μελτέμια, north-west wind, hot-summer winds, Wellek and Warren, Susan Sontag, 'Against Interpretation'
Keywords
Greek Research
Citation
Dounis, Konstandina 2007. Transferrings through the Mosaic of (Literary) Landscapes. In E. Close, M. Tsianikas and G. Couvalis (eds.) "Greek Research in Australia: Proceedings of the Sixth Biennial International Conference of Greek Studies, Flinders University June 2005", Flinders University Department of Languages - Modern Greek: Adelaide, 283-292.