The Mirror of Antiquity: 20th Century British Travellers in GreeceDuring the last century, writers as diverse as William Golding, Henry Miller, Lawrence Durrell, Evelyn Waugh, Virginia Woolf, and Laurie Lee, were captivated by Greece. They were joined in their production of travel accounts by hundreds of lesser-known authors. This book exposes how the responses of travellers were conditioned by much more than their own opinions and personalities. The British education system, classical scholarship, and the heroism demonstrated by the Greeks during the Nazi invasion of their country, all contributed to shaping travel narratives. The author analyses the way in which all of the major archaeological sites were describedâ "including the Athenian Acropolis, Delphi, Olympia, Heinrich Schliemannâ (TM)s Mycenae, and Sir Arthur Evansâ (TM) Knossos in Crete. The representation of the modern Greek people, particularly in the period after the Second World War, is also explored at length. Viewed as relics of the past, the Greeks in literature were given the qualities and appearance of their ancestors. David Wills shows how in the hands of twentieth century travel writers, Greece became less a modern country, and more a mirror of antiquity. This book is essential reading for all who are interested in the history of travel and tourism, reception of the classical past, and recent Greek history.
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Contents
Introduction | 1 |
A History of Travel Writing about Greece | 7 |
The British and the Greeks | 31 |
Copyright | |
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Acropolis Aegean Aegina aesthetic ancient Greeks Ancient sites ancient world anthropologists antiquity architecture argued Athenian Athens Barbara Whelpton Bassae behaviour Blum Britain Cambridge chapter civilization Coles Colin Simpson Corfu Cretans Crete culture Cypriots Cyprus decades Delphi democracy democratic described Dilys Powell emphasised Europe European Evans example Forbes-Boyd foreign Greek Island guidebooks Hellenic Hodder and Stoughton Hughes Hutchinson Jenkyns John Murray journey Kanelli Kimbrough Kininmonth Knossos Krippner Kubly landscape Lawrence Durrell Leigh Fermor literature London Michael modern Greeks Mycenae myth Nancy Spain nineteenth century Olympia Oxford Parthenon Patrick Patrick Leigh Fermor period political Pollard published readers recent remains representation Robert Liddell ruins Schildt Second World sites and monuments Sounion Sparta Temple tourists traditions travel accounts travel books travel literature travel texts travel to Greece travel writers Travlou Turkish twentieth century village visitors Vyvyan Western whilst Wigram writing about Greece Xan Fielding Yalouri