Cavafy Week 3-8 June 2013
Monday, 03 June
17:00-19:00: Erotic Poetry Workshop
Venue: St John's College MCR,
“Body Remember” is a two hour poetry workshop with George Ttoouli – a published poet and an Honorary Teaching Fellow for the Warwick Writing Programme. Using C.P. Cavafy’s erotic poems as a springboard, students will get the unique opportunity to create and craft their own poems that are expressions of desire, intimacy, and fantasy.
Tuesday, 04 June
17:00: Opera Projection
Venue: Ioannou Centre
Screening of the new opera The Barbarians by Constantine Koukias which premiered in January 2012 in the renown Mona Foma Festival in Tasmania, Australia. A rare opportunity to watch this critically acclaimed production, which was inspired by Cavafy and his poem 'Waiting for the Barbarians'. The screening will take place at 17.00 in the first floor seminar room of the Ioannou Centre. It will be followed by discussion.
Wednesday, 05 June
17:00: Cavafy in queer time, lecture by D. Papanikolaou
Venue: Ground Floor Lecture Room, 47, Wellington Square
In this lecture Dr Dimitris Papanikolaou, will bring Cavafy's poetry closer to queer theory and the recent discussion on queer time and queer ethics. Excerpts from Constantine Giannaris's rare film Trojans will be shown. Followed by discussion.
20:00: “Classically Queer” Bar Night
Venue: St Cross College Bar
Desire a drink? Love poetry? Join us for the “Classically Queer Bar Night” at 8pm in the St. Cross College Bar to celebrate the life and works of Alexandria born Greek poet C.P. Cavafy. This informal event hosted by the Modern Greek Sub-Faculty & the LGBTQ Society is open to all. We only ask that you mingle with people and/or poetry. There will be video projections of Cavafy related artwork and music.
Thursday, 06 June
11:00: Translating Cavafy, lecture by M. Maragaronis
Venue: Ground Floor Lecture Room, 47, Wellington Square
The well-known critic and journalist (The Nation) Maria Margaronis, will be mapping out the challenges posed to the translator of Cavafy's poetry, through comparison of existing translations, personal insight, and reflections on the concept of cultural transmission.
19:00: "Why Cavafy?" A roundtable discussion with M. Margaronis, F. Dimirouli & P. Mackridge.
Venue: Blackwell's Bookshop, 50 Broad Street
150 years since his birth, Cavafy’s inimitable voice continues to fascinate readers all over the world. To celebrate the occasion, a student, a journalist, and an Oxford professor, will share their personal stories, thoughts, and dilemmas, on reading and researching Cavafy's work. Blackwell's and EHRC are hosting this evening as part of the series on Modern Writers. Followed by drinks reception.
Friday, 07 June
19:30: Cavafy Café, reading Cavafy with Ian Parks, Patrick McGuinness and Richard Gwyn
Venue: the Albion Beatnik Bookstore,
Three British poets will be performing readings of selected Cavafy poems, and accounting for the life-changing influence on their own creative work. Join us at the Albion Beatnik Bookstore (34 Walton St), for a relaxed and informal evening, have a drink or two, and immerse yourself in the magic of Cavafy’s verse through the voices of those who have been most inspired.
Entrance is free
Saturday, 08 June
10:00-16:00: Colloquium: Reading Cavafy in Difficult Times.
Venue: Room 2, Taylor Institution (St Giles)
The Cavafy Week culminates with a day-long colloquium. Entrance is free and all are welcome.
Cavafy readers from different backgrounds are invited to respond to one Cavafy poem or theme, in the light of recent events, contemporary life, current affairs, or simply to reflect on their own reading of the poet today. Multiple responses will be brought together at this fast-paced discussion, with short 10-minute presentations mapping out a diverse collage of ideas.
10.00 – 10.20 Welcome and Introductory Remarks
10.20-11.30
Eri Stavropoulou: Is there time for poetry? Cavafy's 'The First Step
Richard Gwyn: Ionic: Time, Myth and Reality
Nicolas Argenti: Candles; Simultaneously
Paraskevi Martzavou: Priest at the Serapeion
John Ma: Cavafy and the Hellenistic : 'The Battle of Magnesia'
11.30 - 11.45 Coffee
11.45-1.00
Maria Margaronis: Into a foreign tongue our pain and love are passing
Sarah Ekdawi: 'For Ammon'. On Language and Identity
Annie Demosthenous: Finding Home: Reading Cavafy in Scots
Foteini Dimirouli: The Era of Disillusionment: James Merrill's 'After Cavafy'
Anna-Maria Sichani: @Cavafy
1.00-1.45 Lunch
1.45 - 3.00
Lyman Gamberton: Ithaca; Displacement and Travelling
Angie Voela: 'Che Fece... Il grand rifiuto', followed by a moral tale
Dimitris Papanikolaou: When does Remon speak?
Kostas Panapakidis: Candles in my heart
Hector Kollias: The Other's Illness: "Kleitos' Illness", my mother, my country - but not me...
3.00-4.00
Michael Jeffreys: Cavafy and Pselos
Marjolijne Jansen: The Poseidonians forgot the Greek Language
Marc Lauxtermann: Let the frivolous call me frivolous
Alex Pappas: Crisis, Identity and Art in Cavafy's "Symeon"
4.00 - 4.20 Coffee and tea
4.20 - 5.30
Ian Parks: The Watchman
Eleftheria Ioannidou: In the month of Athyr, Athens still remains
Alekos Kazamias: An Early Keynesian and a Radical? Cavafy on banking crises, civil disobedience and rebellion
Eleni Philippou: "Waiting for the Barbarians" in Apartheid and Post-Apartheid South Africa
Costas Douzinas: On the postcolony
5.30-6.00
Katerina Vrana: As much as you can
Aikaterini Gegisian: The City; Game 1
All events organized by the Sub-Faculty of Byzantine and Modern Greek, University of Oxford, with the support of the European Humanities Research Centre (EHRC) and the Greek Ministry of Culture