Greece through Irish Eyes is an insightful personal view by Richard Pine of the country where he has lived for the past 15 years. One of Ireland’s leading literary criti, Pine asks, What links Ireland and Greece? The author’s trenchant, provocative arguments acknowledge both the strengths and the weaknesses of Greece today, and draw suggestive parallels with the Irish situation Pine pays special attention to the family values of honour, loyalty, and economy, arguing that these are at the heart of Greek society and culture. He develops this in a comprehensive survey of Greek law, literature and politi, and Greece’s position at the centre of Balkan affairs. He graphically describes the effects of austerity on society and the economy, with up-to-the-minute accounts of the new government’s attempts to renegotiate Greece’s bailout. He strongly criticises the intransigence of bureaucracy, the pervasiveness of bribery and corruption and the continuing threats of terrorism and fascism. Richard Pine also calls for a major rethink on Greek and Irish positions on Europe. The parallels between Ireland and Greece may make some readers uncomfortable, but they are substantiated by solid examples of cultural, economic and historical differences which argue against integration into a centre-dominated Europe. “Greece is a country I both love and mourn. Richard Pine writes about it with a unique and painful empathy” - Roy Foster

The condition of Greece, ever since its establishment as a sovereign state in 1830, has been the subject of intense international debate, centring on its pivotal role in the Balkans. This has been aggravated by Greece’s economic collapse in 2010 and by the ongoing refugee crisis, by environmental disasters, terrorism and the Macedonian question. This book’s analysis and assessment of Greek social, cultural and political life is trenchant, up-front and passionate, based on the author’s belief that one cannot love Greece without also mourning the fault-lines in bureaucracy and the dynastic politics which have dominated it since its inception. This book features a selection of the author’s “Letters from Greece” (from The Irish Times) and his “Eye of the Xenos”, from the Greek newspaper Kathimerini, in its entirety, in both English and a Greek translation, including columns which Kathimerini refused to print due to the nature of their political commentary.

This book explores the perception of modern Greek landscape and poetry in the writings of Seamus Heaney and Derek Mahon. Delving into travel writing, ecocriticism, translation and allusion, it offers a fresh comparative link between Greek modernity and Irish poetry that counterbalances the preeminence of Greek antiquity in existing criticism. The first section, devoted to travel and landscape, examines Mahon’s modern perception of the Aegean, inspired by his travels to the Cyclades between 1974 and 1997, as well as Heaney’s philhellenic relationship with mainland Greece between 1995 and 2004. The second section offers a close analysis of their C. P. Cavafy translations, and compares George Seferis’ original texts with their creative rendition in the writings of the Irish poets. The book will appeal to readers of poetry as well as those interested in the interactions between Ireland and Greece, two countries at the extreme points of Europe, in times of crisis.

Encounters in Greek and Irish Literature brings together literary experts in two traditions and some contemporary novelists writing in them: this distinctive group includes Katy Hayes, Mia Gallagher, Deirdre Madden, Paraic O’Donnell, Christos Chrissopoulos, Panos Karnezis, Sophia Nikolaidou, and Ersi Sotiropoulos. Their work is presented in context, not only through excerpts from published and unpublished fiction, but also through eight self-reflective essays that enhance our understanding of these authors’ themes and modes. All these critical texts originate from a unique gathering of scholars and creative talent held at the Ionian University, Corfu, in October 2017, predominantly exploring Greek and Irish prose writing and the relationships between them. This volume paints a more complete picture through added scenes from drama, poetry and translation, and through considerations of the history and associations of two literatures at the edges of Europe. Translation is integral to the dialogues fostered; the selected works by the Irish and Greek writers can be read in both Greek and English, a manifestation of, and a further point in, the reception of these authors beyond Greece and Ireland. The book opens with a comprehensive introductory essay by Joanna Kruczkowska, and further insights into the creative mind and aspects of publishing are provided through a roundtable with the authors recorded at the time of the festival. This material further contributes to a remarkably structured look at the business of writing and the workings of two literary systems.

On 23 July 2018, in the seaside town of Mati in Greece, Zoe Holohan and her husband of four days were enjoying the beginning of their honeymoon. Then disaster struck. Unprecedented wildfires swept through the area, killing 102 people. Zoe and Brian fled their villa, chased by the flames, running for their lives. Ultimately Zoe was one of the few survivors from the area, having been miraculously rescued from the boot of a burning car just seconds from death. She suffered severe burns all over her face and body, and her beloved husband Brian lost his life before her eyes. In this remarkable story Zoe reveals the emotional journey of grappling with the loss of her true love and partner, as well as her own incredible fight for survival, learning how to walk, talk and use her limbs again, and a future facing PTSD and a heavily scarred body. As the Smoke Clears is a deeply personal journey through a life-altering year which, at its heart, teaches us to seek hope and happiness in even the most tragic of circumstances, and to find comfort in the enduring kindness of our fellow human beings.

For many, “Greece” is synonymous with “ancient Greece,” the civilization that gave us much that defines Western culture today. But, how did Greece come to be so powerfully attached to the legacy of the ancients in the first place and then define an identity for itself that is at once Greek and modern? This book reveals the remarkable achievement, during the last three hundred years, of building a modern nation on the ruins of a vanished civilization—sometimes literally so. This is the story of the Greek nation-state but also, and more fundamentally, of the collective identity that goes with it. It is not only a history of events and high politics; it is also a history of culture, of the arts, of people, and of ideas. Opening with the birth of the Greek nation-state, which emerged from encounters between Christian Europe and the Ottoman Empire, Roderick Beaton carries his story into the present moment and Greece’s contentious post-recession relationship with the rest of the European Union. Through close examination of how Greeks have understood their shared identity, Beaton reveals a centuries-old tension over the Greek sense of self. How does Greece illuminate the difference between a geographically bounded state and the shared history and culture that make up a nation? A magisterial look at the development of a national identity through history, Greece: Biography of a Modern Nation is singular in its approach. By treating modern Greece as a biographical subject, a living entity in its own right, Beaton encourages us to take a fresh look at a people and culture long celebrated for their past, even as they strive to build a future as part of the modern West.