Behind the Mythological Curtai n: Reception of Greek Tragedy During the Communist Rule in Serbia
April 21\, 12 - 1:30 PM
An online talk b
y:
Jelena Todorovic
UBC Department of Class
ical\, Near Eastern and Religious Studies
[ Abstract ]
The place that the Greek heritage has had in the Serbian culture is
somewhat different than the one we come across in the Western European tra
ditions. From the first Serbian states in the early 9th century and the Med
ieval Serbian monarchies to the national awakening in the 18th century\, an
d all the way to the modern days\, the cultural dominance of the Orthodox B
yzantium\, and Hellenic heritage with it\, has been determining in the shap
ing of Serbian identity. Hellenic and Byzantine Mediterranean has always be
en a preferred destination of Serbian authors\, a place they approached wit
h a pronounced sense of kinship\, with a desire to discover their own spiri
tual continuities\, and their own position in the world. What role did this
patrimony that had helped define the Serbian identity have in Communist-ru
led Serbia\, in the times when all the national attributes were stigmatized
and violently erased? This presentation discusses how the reception of Gre
ek mythological tragedy in the postwar Serbian literature both mapped onto
the unique sentiment that the Serbian authors had for Greek antiquity and p
rovided a safe place for social and political criticism inside the communis
t apparatus.
[ Info ]
This event is co-sponsore
d with the UBC Interdisciplinary Histories Research Excellence Cluster. To
RSVP\, please visit their event page.