REMgrB37 Reading Pictures – Viewing Texts: Greek Visual Poetry from Technopaignia to Hypertext

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2017
Extent and Intensity
0/0/0. 2 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
dr. Lilia Diamantopoulou (lecturer), Mgr. Nicole Votavová Sumelidisová, Ph.D. (deputy)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. et Mgr. Markéta Kulhánková, Ph.D.
Department of Classical Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Jitka Erlebachová
Supplier department: Department of Classical Studies – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Mon 13. 11. 15:50–19:10 A21, Tue 14. 11. 15:50–19:10 A21, Thu 16. 11. 15:50–19:10 A21
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
Greek Visual Poetry is a literary form that has remained underexplored, although, as this seminar contends, it constitutes a crucial part of Modern Greek literature. Considering the various manifestations of Greek Visual Poetry, we can endorse Foucault’s dictum: "the relation of language to painting is an infinite relation”. But in what way is this relationship realized? Starting with all the possible word-image combinations (vase-painting, illustration, comic etc.) we will focus on Greek Visual Poetry highlighting the different ways in which Visual Poetry has populated the literary field diachronically, through a selection of hardly known examples: a handful hellenistic “Technopaignia” that have been studied for their metrics by young pupils for hundreds of years; Byzantine “woven verses” used for propaganda reasons during the iconoclastic controversy; a panegyric for the Wallachian Prince Mavrogenis, whose censorship regime forced poets to create condensed visual poems consisting of no more than his first name; a poem by Constantine Cavafy that elaborates on a hardly legible epigram, and visually emulates the marble inscription; the “Group of Visual Poets”, founded in the 1980s, whose members still explore the various interactions in-between media; codepoetry, which is sprayed as graffiti in urban spaces and can only be decoded by a cell phone app. These instances will be key to a discussion seeking to define Greek Visual Poetry, and to tackle adjacent questions about the evolution of the Greek language, the process of nation-building, the history of typography and intermediality, and the future of poetry in the new media age.
Syllabus
  • Lecture dates and places:
  • 13/11 15:50-19:10 A21
  • 14/11 15:50-19:10 A21
  • 16/11 15:50-19:10 A21
Assessment methods
Attandance and Participation (20%) Essay (max. 10 pages)(40%) Referat/Presentation (40%)
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
The course is taught only once.
Information on the extent and intensity of the course: 12 hodin, 13.-16. 11. 2017.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2017/REMgrB37