C. P. Cavafy (1863-1933) lived most of his life and wrote almost all of his work in Alexandria. As he himself had stated, History and classical scholarship were among his favourite intellectual pursuits from a young age. Later on, he channeled this interest into his poetry, especially in the works he wrote during his mature period (from 1911 onward). How is this poetic “historicism” to be interpreted? Is it solely the result of a personal choice? In what terms and through which methods is the infusion of History expressed in his poetry? As a poet of the diaspora, does he perhaps turn to History in order to keep the national collective memory alive? Or does the representation of the Hellenistic past, in particular, serve as a means – a vehicle – for raising other issues?

BIO
Michail Bakoyiannis was born in Athens (1966) and studied Greek Philology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) where he later obtained his Doctorate in Modern Greek Literature from the School of Philology. He has been teaching Modern Greek Literature at the School of Philology at AUTH since 2011 but has also presented courses in the Departments of Modern Greek Studies at the University of Cyprus (2008), the University of Belgrade (2012), the Universiteit van Amsterdam (2013), the Universität Wien (2015), the University of Ioannina (2015) and the Hellenic Open University since 2003. He has published five books, and his main areas of research interest are Modern Greek Literature and Critique, especially post-war, and the Greek literary periodicals of the 19th and 20th century.

Event Details:
When: Thursday 14 August 2025, 7pm
Speaker: Michail Bakoyiannis
Seminar: The Ancient Greek Myth in Modern Greek Poetry
Where: Greek Center (Mezzanine, 168 Lonsdale St, Melbourne)
Language: Greek