Just Above Sunset
April 24, 2005 - From the Department of Useless Information
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From Bob Patterson, columnist
for Just Above Sunset – One of our regular readers
works near my apartment and we chat often. He asked me if there was a period when Greek literature diminished and then bounced
back. He wanted to know when the revival in Greek Literature occurred. Ah, yes. Under Turkish rule, Greek
literature virtually ceased, except in Crete. In the late 18th cent. two patriots, the poet Rhigas Pheraios (1751-98) and
the intellectual Adamantios Koraës (1748-1833), sought to encourage a revival of Greek letters. The revolutionary society
Philike Hetairea, founded in 1816, reflected the growing influence in Greece of the French Enlightenment and the rise of European
romanticism; both furnished the intellectual framework for the War of Independence (1821-27) and spurred the postwar nationalist
revival that awakened a modern Greek literature. Fascinating stuff? Probably not. Why am I fascinated by
meaningless patter? My reply to Vince is that
if you think about what is at this site – Greek Revival Architecture (1800-1850) - and sites like it, you see this is all part of the same deal. And here you
don’t blame Voltaire and Candide – you blame a follower of Voltaire’s ideas, Thomas Jefferson. Inspirations and beginnings: Thomas Jefferson designs Monticello, Charlottesville, VA in 1770. Influenced
by Palladio. Jefferson believed in architecture as a symbol; he despised Williamsburg due to English origins: Williamsburg
represented colonial exploitation. In France, Jefferson learned of Roman architecture and its symbolic association with Greek
democracy. Okay, Lord Byron is writing
loopy poetry and fighting for Greek independence in the early 1820’s – and Jefferson was in Paris decades earlier,
or was that Nick Nolte? (Jefferson in Paris is an amusing movie.) It was a time for thinking about Greece in its Golden Age. To Jefferson architecture
was a form of visual education in support of democratic ideal. The Greek Revival movement becomes widely accepted throughout
the early U.S. as a symbol of the new democracy. Of course. Dominant style in America,
1820-1850. Also called ‘national style’ due to popularity. Known as the ‘Territorial style’ in early Western towns, including Santa Fe, NM. Style diffused
westward with settlers (especially New Englanders, across upstate New York), first American architectural style to reach West
Coast.” And this? “Greek place names, street names, and architecture became dominant throughout the Northeast.”
Bowling Green, where
the Dutch in New Amsterdam used to go bowling, and where, on the evening of July 9, 1776 - moments after George Washington,
in what is now City Hall Park, had the newly-arrived Declaration of Independence read to the troops - a mob of exuberant citizens
descended on the park to haul down the equestrian statue of George III (that they themselves had paid for), and to knock the
heads of the royal family that were on the posts of that very fence you see there, later melting them all down into shot to
be used by Continental soldiers to shoot redcoats. That other building beyond the park is the Customs building, which sits
on the spot of the original New Amsterdam fort, which was essentially the first settlement on the island, out of which the
whole city grew. The NYC Custom House columns are Doric. The spirit is Greek and revolutionary. |
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Copyright © 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 - Alan M. Pavlik
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This issue updated and published on...
Tuesday February 14, 2006 07:11AM Paris readers add nine hours....
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