Saturday, April 26, 2014

ΚΙΤΣΑΡΙΑ

Kitsch is one of my favourite modern Greek words. Rendered as «κιτς» for Athenians who struggle to pronounce the requisite voiceless postalveolar fricative consonant, the word can take on a multiplicity of manifestations, such as «κιτσάτο» in its adjectival form. Such is the flexibility of the modern Greek language, that a particularly acute case of kitsch can be rendered as «καρακίτς,» with the late lamented Malvina Karali applying it to females thus: «καρακιτσάρα.»

The concept of "black kitsch is alien to the English language, wherein the term "kitsch" exists as German loan-word, signifying  a low-brow style of mass-produced art or design using popular or cultural icons. In this sense, the term is generally employed to signify unsubstantial or gaudy works or decoration, or works that are calculated to have popular appeal. The very concept of kitsch is applied to artwork that was a response to the 19th-century art with aesthetics that convey exaggerated sentimentality and melodrama.

To the modern Greek, the term κιτς has slightly different connotations. It appears to be synonymous with the term «κακογουστιά,» implying a simplistic, caricatured aesthetic taste.  When coupled with conceptions of a Greek identity, the fusion forms an undercurrent of mutually accepted symbols and cultural identifiers, whereby one can claim membership of the fold.


Hermann Broch argues that the essence of kitsch is imitation, in that kitsch mimics its immediate predecessor with no regard to ethic: it aims to copy the beautiful, not the good. According to Walter Benjamin, kitsch is, unlike art, a utilitarian object lacking all critical distance between object and observer, offering "instantaneous emotional gratification without intellectual effort, without the requirement of distance, without sublimation." In other words, it is a form of art used to appeal to our emotions in a way that is intended to evoke quick approval without any attendant reflection.

Greek kitsch is all around us. It exists in the music we listen to, the symbols we identify with and the art we buy. Whereas Grand Tourists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries brought back souvenir replicas of the art they came across as a memento and for further study, the plethora of statuettes, kombologia and Suns of Vergina that clutter the shelves of "Greek" stores in Melbourne exist only to remind us of  who we are.

While various members of the community often argue that there is more to our culture than bouzouki and tzatziki, and we are lucky that in Melbourne, as compared with say, Chicago, our cultural awareness and expression is infinitely more complex and multi-faceted, when it comes time to showcase ourselves to the broader community, and to ourselves, the same methods are employed time after time: folk dancing, traditional music, the odd brass-plated Spartan, gyros and loukoumades, leading one to believe that Greek culture has either not progressed from the weapon wielding kapetanaioi of the nineteenth century or, that if it has, such advances as have been made have been rejected.  Examining the phenomenon in an excellent estimation of the most recent Lonsdale Street, festival, Neos Kosmos English Edition Editor Kostas Karamarkos had this to say: "Yes, in a street festival, including the Lonsdale Street Festival, you will find elements of folklore, simplicity and kitsch, but this is to be expected in a paniyiri and in any case, this doesn't negate the much more important positive outcomes of this celebratory weekend."


Kostas Karamarkos is correct in observing that we love our kitsch. That is its purpose. Yet rather than becoming hysterical about its prevalence, we would do well to consider that our need to distill our historical and culture into a few symbols that can be shared with everyone is a very ancient one. In his thoroughly provoking poem "Poseidoniatae" Cavafy describes how the Greek colonists of Poseidonia in Italy, having gradually become latinized, resorted to kitsch in order to preserve some semblance of a Greek identity: "The only thing surviving from their ancestors/ was a Greek festival, with beautiful rites,/ with lyres and flutes, contests and wreaths./ And it was their habit toward the festival's end/ to tell each other about their ancient customs/ and once again to speak Greek names/ that only a few of them still recognized."


The fact that Cavafy wrote in multi-cultural Alexandria, at a time where the prominent and affluent Greek community appeared to be at the pinnacle of its material success should not escape our notice. Yet Cavafy was perceptive enough to identify within the postulated kitsch ritual display, the elements of fear and guilt that underlay it: "And so their festival always had a melancholy ending/ because they remembered that they too were Greeks,/ they too once upon a time were citizens of Magna Graecia;/ and how low they'd fallen now, what they'd become,/ living and speaking like barbarians,/ cut off so disastrously from the Greek way of life." Thus, according to Cavafy, kitsch serves the dialectic of cultural assimilation and cultural distinction, cultural pride and cultural shame.

 

The capacity of unaesthetic art to provoke pride in one's origins should not be discounted. After all, it was a similar arbitrary distillation of cultural elements by the creators of Acropolis Now that led to a great cultural emancipation, whereby it became not only acceptable but also admirable to be a "wog." While those cultural signifiers may make us cringe today, it can be argued that via a similar process, such stock elements as blue and white colour schemes, pastiches of ancient Greek aesthetics and the like can evoke feelings of pride in many of us, providing motivation for further explorations within the abyss of Greek cultural experience or, at the very least, keeping us within the kitsch defined fold of the Greek identity.

In viewing our relationship to our own kitsch, it is worthwhile considering just how much of it we control, or how much of it is constituted by an identity of norms of appearances foisted upon us or assumed by us as a result of other's desires to see ourselves be portrayed in a certain way. How ancient Greek, or Big Fat Greek Wedding we truly are, may be pale in priority to our need to find receptors in others in which they can appreciate or understand at least a portion of our identity, however mythologized. Believing in and developing kitsch out of such a racist in origin phenomenon, truly presents as a fascinating development of one's own identity, internalizing within it, feelings of inferiority such as those perceived by Cavafy. Here caution is to be applied, for aesthetics without a sound core principle to underlie them, leads to extremism and feelings of cultural superiority that can ultimately culminate in racial intolerance and fascism.

 While it is therefore true that kitsch evokes cheap or easy emotions,  it is questionable whether this in itself, should be considered a problem.  Our reactions and emotions with response to art or situations in life do not always have to be refined, educated or profound.  The sort of relaxed and casual release that kitsch gives can be beneficial as it allows us to highlight a nostalgic or sentimental aspect to our consciousness of ourselves that can lead to a tremendous voyage of discovery. Attempting to make all aspects of our identity serious or critical is not always necessary, despite the dangers of cultural stagnation and implosion if we do not offer alternative critiques. Thankfully, in Melbourne, at least at the present, a vast array of alternative Greek voices exist and compete with each other, while for everyone else, there is always the blue and white themed Greek tavern  for solace. Driving in the suburb in which I reside, I always smile when I pass an incongruous, among the red brick homes,  whitewashed, blue and white house, complete with Greek flag, stylized painted peacocks and the word «Ελένη» lovingly painted upon the letterbox, paraphrasing the great Milan Kundera:  " Now matter how much we scorn it, kitsch is a part of the [Greek] tradition."


DEAN KALIMNIOU
First published in NKEE on Saturday 26 April 2014

Saturday, April 19, 2014

HOLY WEEK

"For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures; and that He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve; after that, He was seen of above five thousand brethren at once." 1 Cor. 15:3-6
If one is to follow the morning and evening church services of Holy Week, it soon becomes evident why that week is referred to in Greek as "Long, or Large Week" («Μεγάλη Εβδομάδα.») These services, commencing with the resurrection of Lazarus and Christ's entry into Jerusalem, take us through the suffering of Christ, linking prophecy with its fulfillment, through the use of some of the most beautiful, compelling imagery and poetry ever to have been written in the Greek language, only to have us arrive at the remarkable Resurrection. The entire Christian confession is contained in the words "Christ is Risen." The Apostle Paul, referring to this fact, clearly and emphatically says: "If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain" in his epistle to the Corinthians.
The Holy Monday service (sung Sunday night) commemorates the fig tree which was cursed and withered by Jesus. The withering of the fig tree was a miracle of special symbolism, since the tree had leaves, but no fruit, a post-modern reference to those who claim ethical and religious identity, but who in reality have empty lives that yield no fruit. On that evening, the passionate Hymn of the Bridegroom, is sung: "Behold the Bridegroom comes in the midst of the night... beware, therefore, O my soul, lest thou be borne down in sleep..... and lest thou be shut out from the Kingdom . . ." The canticle hymn also has a symbolic exhortation: "I see thy bridal hall adorned, O my Savior, and I have no wedding garment. . . O giver of Light, make radiant the vesture of my soul and save me". At this time the solemn procession of the Icon of Christ-Bridegroom takes place around the church. The people, anticipating the sufferings of Christ, sing: "Thy sublime sufferings, on this day, shine upon the world as a light of salvation".
Holy Tuesday commemorates the parable of the Ten Virgins in the Gospel of Matthew, where Jesus stressed the importance of ethical preparation and wakefulness. The parable of the Ten Virgins is developed around the theme of the Bridegroom: "Why are Thou heedless, O my soul? . . . Work most diligently with the talent which has been confided to thee; both watch and pray". The hymnologist reminds us, "I do not possess a torch aflame with virtue, and the foolish virgin I imitate when it is the time for action"; and, "Into the splendor of thy saints, how can I, who am unholy, enter?" The exhortation is then given: "Come Ye faithful, let us work earnestly for the Master . . . increase our talent of grace ... Wisdom through good works".
On Wednesday (Tuesday night) commemoration is made of the anointing of Christ with myrrh by the woman in the house of Simon the leper, in Bethany. On this evening, the powerful "Hymn of Cassiane", probably a work of Patriarch Photius is sung. It begins: "The woman who had fallen into many sins recognized thy Godhead, O Lord; Woe to me, saith she; receive the sources of my tears, O Thou who doth gather into clouds the water of the sea. Who can trace out the multitude of my sins and the abysses of my misdeeds? "O Thou whose mercy is unbounded".
The sacred ceremony of the Sacrament of Holy Unction takes place on Wednesday evening, following an old custom. This is the evening of repentance, confession and the remission of sins by Christ, preparing the faithful to receive Holy Communion, usually the next day, Holy Thursday morning. Holy Unction is the Sacrament for cleansing sins and renewing the body and the spirit of the faithful. Holy Unction is one of the seven Sacraments of the Church, and it has its origin in the practice of the early Church as recorded in the Epistle of James. At the end of the service, the priest anoints the people with Holy Oil, the visible bearer of the Grace of God. The orthros of Thursday morning is also usually sand in anticipation on Wednesday evening. It contains the powerful exhortation: "Let no fear separate you from Me....."
The service of Great Holy Thursday Morning is sung in the morning by anticipation. Jesus drew His last breath of freedom on this Thursday night. Christ knew all the incidents which were about to take place, and called to Him His Apostles to a Supper in order to institute the Holy Eucharist for them and for the Church forever. The institution of the Holy Eucharist and its re-enactment through the centuries, both as a sacrifice and sacrament, along with the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ, constitutes the basis of salvation for the Christian. The Divine Liturgy of St. Basil is officiated on this day and Christians come for Holy Communion singing: "Receive me Today, O Son of God, as a partaker of Thy Mystic Feast; for I will not speak of the Mystery to Thine enemies, I will not kiss Thee as did Judas, but as the thief I will confess Thee. Lord, remember me when I comest to Thy Kingdom."
On Holy Thursday Evening, the Passion of Chris is remembered and re-enacted. This service is long, but its content is dramatic and deeply moving for the devout Christian. Participation in the prayers and the historical sequence of the events, as related in Twelve Gospel readings and hymns, provides a vivid foundation for the great events yet to come. After the reading of the fifth Gospel, the Crucifix is processed around the church, while the priest chants the 15th antiphon: "Today is hung upon the Tree, He Who did hang the land in the midst of the waters. A Crown of thorns crowns Him Who is King of Angels. He is wrapped about with the purple of mockery Who wrapped the Heavens with clouds. He received buffetings Who freed Adam in Jordan. He was transfixed with nails Who is the Bridegroom of the Church. He was pierced with a spear Who is the Son of the Virgin. We worship Thy Passion, O Christ. Show also unto us thy glorious Resurrection".
According to Hebrew custom, the "Royal Hours", four in number, are read Good Friday morning. These services consist of hymns, psalms, and readings from the Old and New Testaments, all related prophetically to the Person of Christ. The Vespers of Friday afternoon are a continuation of the Hours. During this service, the removal of the Body of Christ from the Cross is commemorated with a sense of mourning for the terrible events which took place. Excerpts from the Old Testament are read together with hymns, and again the entire story is related. The Apostle Paul, interpreting the dreadful event, exhorts the Church: "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God . . . we preach Christ crucified . . . the power of God and the wisdom of God", As the priest reads the Gospel, "and taking the body, Joseph wrapped it in a white cloth", he removes the Body of Christ from the Cross, wraps it in a white cloth and takes it to the altar. The priest then chants a mourning hymn: "When Joseph of Arimathea took Thee, the life of all, down from the Tree dead, he buried Thee with myrrh and fine linen . . . rejoicing. Glory to Thy humiliation, O Master, who clothest Thyself with light as it were with a garment". The priest then carries the cloth to the Epitaphios. Perhaps the most famous and best attended Holy Week service is the Good Friday Evening Lamentation. It consists of psalms, hymns and readings, dealing with the death of Christ and in expectation of His Resurrection. One of the hymns relates: "He who holds all things is raised up on the Cross and all creation laments to see Him hang naked on the Tree". The profoundly moving Odes compare the compassion and might of God with the cruelty and weakness of man, portraying all Creation as trembling when witnessing its Creator hung by His own creatures: "Creation was moved . . . with intense astonishment when it beheld Thee hung in Golgotha". During this service the Body of Christ in the Epitaphios is carried in procession around the church andthe entire congregation joins in singing the "Encomia" After these hymns are sung, the priest sprinkles the Epitaphios and the whole congregation with fragrant water.
On Holy Saturday Morning, psalms are read and Resurrection hymns are sung which tell of Christ's descent into Hades. "Today Hades cried out groaning" is the hymn's description of the resurrection of Adam and the conquering of death. Thus this day's celebration is called "First Resurrection". Most of the readings of this day are from the Old Testament on the prophesies of the conquering of death. On this day the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil is officiated. Apostle Paul exhorts the faithful: "We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism unto death, so we, too, might walk in newness of life", After the reading of the Epistle, the priest follows the custom of tossing of laurel, saying: "Arise, O God, and judge Thou the earth: for Thou shall take all heathen to Thine inheritance". The Cherubic hymn of this day is: "Let all mortal flesh keep silence and stand with fear and trembling......", a thoughtful hymn of adoration and exaltation. The Divine Liturgy ends with the Communion Hymn: "So the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and He is risen to save us".
 
On Easter Sunday (Saturday midnight) the life-giving Resurrection of Christ is celebrated. Before midnight, the Odes of Lamentation of the previous day are repeated. The Orthros of the Resurrection begins in complete darkness. The priest takes light from the vigil light and gives it to the faithful, who are holding candles. The priest sings: "Come ye and receive light from the unwaning life, and. glorify Christ, who arose from the dead", and all the people join him in singing this hymn again and again. From this moment, every Christian holds the Easter candle as a symbol of his vivid, deep faith in the Resurrection of Jesus The priest leads the people outside the church, where he reads the Gospel which refers to the Angels statement: "He is Risen; He is not here." Then comes the breathless moment as the people wait for the priest to start the hymn of Resurrection, which they join him in singing, repeatedly: "Christ has Risen from the dead, by death trampling upon Death, and has bestowed life upon those in the tombs". From this moment the entire service takes on a joyous Easter atmosphere. The hymns of the Odes and Praises of Resurrection which follow are unparalleled in intensity. The people confess, "It is the Day of Resurrection, let us be glorious, let us embrace one another and speak to those that hate us; let us forgive all things and so let us cry, Christ has arisen from the dead". The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is then officiated. At the end of the Liturgy, a part of the marvelous festival sermon of St. Chrysostom is read, which calls upon the people to "Take part in this fair and radiant festival. Let no one be fearful of death, for the death of the Savior has set us free . . . O Death, where is thy sting? O Hades, where is Thy victory? Christ is Risen and Thou art overthrown. To Him be glory and power from all ages to all ages".

From the Diatribe, hopes that you have had a holy, Holy Week and ΚΑΛΗ ΑΝΑΣΤΑΣΗ.
DEAN KALIMNIOU
Published in NKEE on Saturday, 19 April 2014

Saturday, April 12, 2014

TOUPHA



«Κάτσι βρε πιδάκι’μ  για όνουμα τ’Θιού να σι χτινήσου. Τούφις τούφις γίνκαν τα μαλλιά’ς!» It was with these words that my grandmother would initiate a daily chase around the house, brandishing a particularly gruesome hairbrush. Having finally cornered me in the bathroom, she would then proceed to attack my tangled locks with gusto, tearing away at the knots with the enthusiasm of a master sheep shearer, as I struggled ineffectually against her apron. A brisk tap on the head with the end of the brush signified the end of my trial and I would be despatched, teary eyed and smooth scalped, into the garden. For some reason though, the word toupha, meaning a clump of hair, came to signify an article of exquisite torture, leading me to cringe every time we would sing the carol: «τούφες χιόνι πέφτουνε στο παραθυράκι» during Greek school Christmas pageants. Instead of warm fires and Father Christmas as evoked by the carol, I would conjure up images of demented snowmen coming in through the window attacking my hair with iron rakes.  Even today, I cannot utter the word toufa without a sense of uneasiness and foreboding.

Paradoxically enough, the word 头发, pronounced tóufa, actually does mean hair in Mandarin Chinese, leading at least one crackpot Greek linguist to raise this as proof that the soldiers of Alexander the Great not only reached China, but also set up a chain of successful hairdressing shops throughout the length and breadth of the Middle Kingdom. The truth of course is that tóu means head, and fa means hair, signifying head hair, for Chinese does make a distinction between different types of hair to be found on the body.

Our modern  toupha, on the other hand, comes from the Byzantine Greek τοῦφα or τουφίον, being  a plumage of the hair or bristles of exotic animals, used to decorate horsemen's helmets and emperors' crowns. As the headdress developed, most probably under Persian influence, it gradually became increasingly elaborate, sporting such exotic additions as peacock feathers, as Byzantine Emperors sought to increase their prestige and street credibility.

One of our earliest depictions of the toupha come from the restlessly itinerant Italian humanist and antiquarian  Cyriaco of Ancona, in the thirteenth century. When he was in Constantinople, he attempted to sketch as best he could the gigantic bronze statue of the Emperor Justinian. Said imposing megastatue was made of gilded bronze, and stood on a column 50 metres high. The most remarkable thing about the statue itself,  other than its size, was the headdress, which Cyriaco was pleased to learn, was called a toupha. Particularly imposing in size, this toupha had fallen from the statue in the ninth century and was artfully replaced through the employment of some dangerous acrobatics. A  rope was stretched between the roof of the Great Church of Hagia Sophia and the summit of the column by means of an arrow along which someone could tightrope-walk to the statue. The emperor Theophilus, a known connoisseur of the toupha,  rewarded the intrepid tightrope-walker with 100 gold nomismata for this tremendous exploit, though his disdained from doffing his toupha to him.
The toupha had been in use for quite a while before Justinian. Coins from the reign of Empreror Constantius II (337-361) show him wearing one, along with a tuft of hair at the front that looks like the crest of an ancient Greek helmet. Thus when Justinian came along, some two centuries years later, the wearing of the toupha had by then become a well- established component of imperial paraphernalia, to be worn when an emperor rode in procession to celebrate a triumph, oblivious as to how hair loss specialists of the future would be inspired by the wearing of the toupha, to create their own strand by strand hair replacement treatments, thus providing retired cricketers with a secure livelihood.

 Gradually, in colloquial language, toupha or typha came to mean a tiara, and the twelfth century historian, Joannes Zonaras, even records that a verb, τυφόομαι, meaning "to be filled with extreme arrogance”, was derived from it, much as we would remark that someone has a “big head,” today.

Representations of the toupha survive also in woven form. One hundred and seventy years ago, an extraordinary piece of fabric was discovered in Bamburg, Germany, in the tomb of Gunther, Bishop from 1057 to 1065. The bishop was buried with a brilliantly coloured tapestry he had obtained in Constantinople, depicting a tyche , or representation of Constantinople,  presenting a toupha to either the emperor John I Tzmiskes  or Basil II the Bulgar-Slayer, as a rewarding for defeating the Bulgarians. In a form that pre-dates similar civic allegories that would later be adopted in Venice, the tyche appears to be adorned as a bride, the tapestry thus stressing that the Emperor is married to the City, much as the Doge of Venice annually through his ring into the Venetian lagoon, symbolizing Venice’s marriage to the sea.  The hapless cleric did not live to enjoy his remarkable souvenir. He died while on his Constantinopolitan pilgrimage and his toupha tapestry was buried with him.

 One of the last wearers of the toupha would have been the second-last Emperor, John VIII Palaiologos, who wore his toupha as part of his sales pitch, as he toured Western Europe in search of funds and an army to help him repel the Ottoman onslaught.   His elaborate costume, (costume being the operative word as the jewels in his get up were made of glass, the emperors having pawned their rocks a long time ago in order to prop up their tottering realm) captured the imagination of Florentines, when in 1439, the Emperor John attended the Council of Florence, there to work out the details of a union between the Eastern and Western Churches. Young artists such as Benozzo Gozzoli, felt compared to portray the picturesque emperor, in all his imperial finery.

 Twenty years after the conclusion of the Council of Florence, Benozzo Gozzoli painted his remarkable frescoes in the Chapel of the Magi, in the Medici Palace. One of the Magi in his ‘Adoration of the Magi’ is definitely inspired by the Emperor John, whom he portrayed  sporting  carefully curled hair, exotic Eastern robes, imperial red buskins, and a toupha , this time in the form of a crown bejewelled with the rubies and pearls with red, white, and green feathers. It is not known to what extent Gozzoli’s representation of the toupha is authentic or whether he sought to improve or augment the one he saw the emperor wear. Some scholars speculate that the Emperor did not wear the toupha in Florence, which was the scene of his humiliation, claiming that had he worn such an exotic headpiece, Florentine artists would have flocked en masse to represent it.

 From elaborate headpiece that survives today only in the Mardi Gras and in the modern Greek parlance, to tufts of matted and knotted hair, the toupha has had a long and venerable history. One can only surmise whether the history of the Greek monarchy could have been any different, had the kings of old resolved to don the toupha and out-trump all but the campest of politicians, in the glamour stakes, or had Kolokotronis, possessor of a not so insignificant toupha himself, had assumed control of Greece and adopted it as part of his official regalia. For the latter days are inexpressibly, unbearably, unaesthetic.

DEAN KALIMNIOU
First published in NKEE on Saurday 12 April 2014

Saturday, April 05, 2014

SOTIRIS MANOLOPOULOS: MYTHOMOTEUR

Every origin myth is a tale of creation, describing how a new reality came into existence. In a large number cases, myths of origin also justify the established order by explaining just how this order was established by sacred forces, or at least forces that are extra-ordinary. There needs to be some distinction between cosmogonic myths and origin myths, though this distinction is not always apparent and there can be overlap of both sides. . A myth about origin may necessarily pre-supposes the existence of a pre-established order, hence the need for a cosmogonic myth. This is the reason why in many traditional cultures, the recitation of an origin myth is often prefaced with the recitation of the cosmogonic myth.


In his soon to be launched autobiography, «Ελπιδοφόρο Χάραγμα του Μετανάστη» ("A Migrant's Hopeful Dawn"), successful entrepreneur and migrant Sotiris Manolopoulos, establishes both a cosmogonic and an original myth, one which he believes should determine the way the epigonoi of the foundation fathers, should live their lives and perceive their identity. This would appear to be an extremely novel approach to an autobiography were it not for the fact that drawing upon cosmogonic and foundation myths in order to establish one's place in the world has been a trait endemic within the Greek people since the time of Homer and Hesiod. In such a paradigm, time is displaced, so that the past is ever present.


It is thus typical that Sotiris Manolopoulos account of his own life thus begins with his characterization of it as an Odyssey. From there, he hastens to set out the cosmogonic myth, establishing his ancestry, his conception of same including the broader region in which he was born, inclusive of its native sons, the most prominent of these being none other than the Old Man of Morea, Theodoros Kolokotronis himself. From this point onwards, the themes that Manolopoulos' cosmogony concerns itself with are those of poverty, social exclusion, privation and austerity. Unlike many other locally produced autobiographies, though he is unapologetically nostalgic for certain aspects of his homeland, these being a sense of solidarity and the beauty of the landscape, Manolopoulos refuses to romanticize the cosmogonic topos. Instead, he casts a fierce, critical eye upon the social and economic conditions of his time and those who constructed it in that way. His story reads like the early life of Maxim Gorky, a long progression of valiant attempts to establish oneself, only to be stymied and obstructed at every turn, peppered with scenes of despair but also side-splitting humour, as evidenced by his narration of the time he dressed up as a devil during the Apokries and frightened the living daylights out of his fellow villages.


Despite his straitened circumstances and the immense, almost hysterical fear experienced during the German occupation and the Greek Civil War, a fear which he reproduces masterfully, Manolopoulos is ever conscious of inviting the reader to draw the appropriate conclusion from his experiences. Thus, from the narration of the history of his region, the author teaches the importance of a love of country and religion. The value of a good education as intrinsic to success in life is communicated through the author and his family's valiant attempts to secure him an education, at a huge cost. The value of family cohesion is also proclaimed, through the relation of a good many situations where it was only through the entire family pulling together, that the vicissitudes of life could be overcome. It is in this way that the elements that traditionally are held to comprise the Greek identity: Country, Religion, Family and Education are all dealt with through the prism of the author's experience. Another element that has traditionally been given less emphasis in the traditional conception of the Greek identity is resistance to arbitrary authority. Through Manolopoulos' account of his incessant efforts to better himself and irrepressibility, he establishes this trait as Hellenic and also as key to his own personal success.


In the period after Alexander the Great expanded the Hellenistic world, Greek poetry became replete with founding myths. Callimachus, most notably wrote a whole work simply titled Aitia, or reasons. It is within this sphere that Manolopoulos positions himself, chronicling his own unique role in the expansion of the Hellenic world, to the Antipodes. In his account, all the familiar elements constituting our Greek-Australian identity are there - namely that hard work, community cohesion and an adherence to the cosmogonic values of Country, Religion, Family and Education are the keys to success, which is to be measured in a transcendence of social class and economic prosperity, albeit in the author's case, with a few hiccups along the way. Thus, the mythomoteur, a lovely compound of the French words for myth and engine signifying the constitutive myth that gives an ethnic group its sense of purpose, is readily established for the latter, English-speaking generations by Manolopoulos, despite writing in Greek, though the publication of a translation of his work into English is pending.


Unlike most similar accounts, which present the Greek community as a sort of ghetto, connected but also somehow isolated from broader Australian society, Manolopoulos offers a model of complete integration, without this necessarily entailing integration. His fascinating account of a life spent largely in outback Australia is overflowing with admiration for the hardiness, generosity and resourcefulness of the Australians of the bush. Though his belief in the importance of upholding the Greek identity is pronounced, his account lacks the hysteria and exclusionism of others in the same genre, placing emphasis on the common condition humane. Quite often, he contrasts the generosity of outback Australians with the querulousness and paranoia of members of the Greek community. Conversely, random bouts of racism by drunks are given a humourous dimension and equally random acts of kindness by Greek migrants, particular at times when the author was in a precarious position, are extolled.


Despite the extreme and often agonizing difficulties experienced in the foundation of our community in a new land, a fact that Manolopoulos sees as the major component of our new identity, perseverance and hard work see him through the most dire of days. In keeping with established lore, Manolopoulos goes through the rite of passage of Bonegilla and emerges, ready to take control of his own destiny. Able through his ingenuity and Odyssean restlessness to establish himself as a prominent member of the Mount Isa business community, the indefatigable Manolopoulos then seeks to further the cause of the organized Greek community, assisting in the construction of the local church and school and then, conceiving of an ambitious plan to establish a Greek community within the abandoned mining town of Mary Kathleen. In doing so, he enlisted the supported of local state and federal politicians. One of the great 'what could have beens' of Greek Australian history, this episode alone affords great insights into the ingenuity of a civic minded man as well as serving as a cautionary tale as to how idealism and opportunity can founder on the suspicion, paranoia and inertia of our community. However one looks at it, it is a historical event that begs closer scrutiny.


Much like the ingeniously gadget friendly Odysseus, the author recounts how he made the news by designing and building his own mobile home, utilizing it for that most Australian of pastimes, the cross-country road trip. During his travels, his appreciation of his adopted country grows, as does his astonishment at the presence of Greeks in the most unlikely of places, which constitutes for him, a source of pride. In doing so, adopting Simon Goldhill's analysis of the myth-maker and poet Apollonius, who "employs the metaphor of sedimentation in describing Apollonius' laying down of layers "where each object, cult, ritual, name, may be opened... into a narrative of origination, and where each narrative, each event, may lead to a cult, ritual, name, monument," Manolopoulos is in fact, incorporating the entire continent of Australia into his unique mythology.


An eminently readable account, as history, mythology and autobiography, Manolopoulos' "A Migrant's Hopeful Dawn," embedded with its many Apollonian digressions is remarkable in performing the function of myths in providing explanations, and justification for our origins in this country and the manner in which we have developed. As such, it not only constitutes a foundation myth but also a genealogical tree and most importantly, an interpretation of the effect of personal moral choices. It is therefore a must read.


Sotiris Manolopoulos book: "A Migrant's Hopeful Dawn," will be launched by Dean Kalimniou at the Pontian Community, 345 Victoria Street Brunswick at 3:00pm, 6 April 2014.


DEAN KALIMNIOU
 
First published in NKEE on Saturday on 5 April 2014