[{"id":64460,"title":"Greece Books and Writers","subtitle":null,"description":"This book introduces the major works and authors in modern Greek literature from the 11th century to the present. The progress of Greek letters through the centuries, like that of the modern nation itself, has been neither smooth nor even. The nation has found itself alternately scaling great creative heights and plumbing the depths of cultural stagnation, with its impulse for creativity almost extinguished. However, this impulse was never entirely smothered, not even during the endless years of enslavement, the dark ages following the fall of Constantinople in 1453.\u003cbr\u003eModern Greek literature belongs to the wider family of modern European literature. However, there are many features of it, which distinguish it from the rest of the group. It is a literature which once featured prominently on the European literary scene, but today is, regrettably, regarded as one of the so-called \"minor literatures\", and the Greek language itself is a linguistic loner, relatively inaccessible to foreign readers. But however \"marginal\" it may have been at certain points in its development, it is a literature which has never isolated itself from the centre; indeed, it has been in constant dialogue with the literatures of other European nations. Moreover, the overwhelming Classical literary legacy and the inevitable \"anxiety of influence\" have at times worked against Greek writers; the separation of history and emotion has proved difficult to sustain.\u003cbr\u003e The title of this book is self-explanatory: this is a book about books and writers, and thus prominent writers and their works provide the focus throughout. This volume does not aim to serve as a literary history in the conventional academic sense; rather, it seeks to recast the history of Greek letters in a fresher, more personal narrative, supported by a vast array of illustrations and photographic material. So while the various stages in the development of Greek literature are presented in a linear manner in parallel with modern history, \"Greece, Books and Writers\" regularly sidesteps the main historical narrative to make fascinating literary detours.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","image":"http://www.biblionet.gr/images/covers/b66211.jpg","isbn":"960-7894-29-4","isbn13":"978-960-7894-29-8","ismn":null,"issn":null,"series":null,"pages":259,"publication_year":2001,"publication_place":"Αθήνα","price":"35.0","price_updated_at":"2006-11-16","cover_type":"Μαλακό εξώφυλλο","availability":"Κυκλοφορεί","format":"Βιβλίο","original_language":null,"original_title":null,"publisher_id":390,"extra":null,"biblionet_id":66211,"url":"https://bibliography.gr/books/greece-books-and-writers.json"},{"id":64451,"title":"The Publishing Centres of the Greeks","subtitle":"From the Renaissance to the Neohellenic Enlightenment","description":"The catalogue (initially accompanying an exhibition) is the history of the publishing centres of the Greeks from the renaissance to the neohellenic enlightenment. The exhibition, the product of arduous research and of profound scholarship, is closely associated with the conviction of the National Book Centre that the dissemination of books, the supporting of research, and the acquisition of knowledge lead not only to social self-awareness, but also to individual freedom. In the hands of the few, the book can become a tool of repression, but in the hands of many it is an instrument of resistance and emancipation. \u003cbr\u003eThe subject of the exhibition, the history of the publishing activities of Greeks during a critical chronological period, provides us with the opportunity of learning about the literacy and cultural level of a particular society, by tracing the history of books as the bearers of cultural goods. At the same time, it enables us to form the picture of the unseen mechanisms that drive society, and the nature of its economy, through examining books as merchandise. It reveals to us, finally, the measure of the aesthetic aspirations of society, through a consideration of books as created artefacts.\u003cbr\u003eIn chronological terms, the field of research extends from the renaissance to the enlightenment, and, geographically, it includes the most important cities that emerged as major centres of the publication of Greek books. Through its presentation of this field, the exhibition gives prominence of the course followed by Greek society in its quest for and cultivation of those elements of cohesion that formed its national consciousness: language and education. This course was long and complex, and was pursued between the two very different worlds of the Ottoman empire and Europe. \u003cbr\u003eThe history of Greek printing is comprised of two large, virtually independent chapters since, from the early decades of the 16th century, the publishing of Greek books began to serve two completely different purposes: the dissemination of Greek letters and the consolidation of Greek studies in the context of renaissance mechanism on the one hand, and spiritual and religious needs on the other. \u003cbr\u003e(excerpts from the preface by Prof. Rena Stavridi-Patrikiou and from the introduction by Konstantinos Sp. Staikos)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","image":"http://www.biblionet.gr/images/covers/b66201.jpg","isbn":null,"isbn13":null,"ismn":null,"issn":null,"series":null,"pages":221,"publication_year":2001,"publication_place":"Αθήνα","price":"18.0","price_updated_at":"2006-11-16","cover_type":"Σκληρό εξώφυλλο","availability":"Κυκλοφορεί","format":"Βιβλίο","original_language":null,"original_title":null,"publisher_id":390,"extra":null,"biblionet_id":66201,"url":"https://bibliography.gr/books/the-publishing-centres-of-greeks.json"}]