The Ionian Islands were the only region of the Greek territory that did not suffer from Turkish occupation, a fact that had positive impact on their cultural development. In 1204, the islands were occupied by Venetians, who organized them according to their own feudalistic model, and who kept ruling them until the Napoleonic years. In 1797, with the Campo Formio Treaty the islands passed under the control of the democratic French of Napoleon Bonaparte, who abolished the feudal system. In the next year (1798) they passed under the Russians, while in 1800 the “Ionian State” [“Ionios Politeia”] was established, under dominion of the Sublime Porte. In 1807 the French again occupied the islands, while since 1815 until their final integration to the Greek State they came under the “protection” of England.
The region of the Ionian Islands developed notable civilization during the Venetian Rule. The inhabitants’ long term contact with the West, the absence of Turkish yoke, economic development and the people’s peaceful way of life were favourable conditions for a culture of Arts and Letters. Thus, since the early 19th and until the first decades of the 20th century the Ionian Islands became the intellectual and artistic centre of Hellenism. Especially important was the leading figure of our national poet, Dionysios Solomos, who created a new school for poetic writing and thinking, based on the use of the Greek demotic language and our folk songs.
However, even before Solomos remarkable intellectual activity is observed, especially in literature; thus the production of works of erotic, political and satirical content written in verse. On the one hand the political events of the time, as were the French Revolution and the French intervention in the Ionian Islands, and on the other hand the contradictions of their society (aristocrats and “plebeians”) influenced the local literary production. The most important literary figures before Solomos were Stefanos Xanthopoulos (mid 18th century), Andreas Sigouros (1665 -1747), Andreas Martelaos (1754 -1819), Antonios Katiforos (1685/1696 – 1762), Dimitrios Gouzelis (1774 – 1843) and more.
The Heptanesian School, as it was named by Constantine Asopios and Emmanouil Roidis, comprised a number of literary men who were directly or indirectly influenced by Solomos and who cultivated, with consistency and success, almost all kinds of literature (prose, theatre, criticism, essay, translation) following the example of their Great Teacher. We may say that this literary movement is characterized by common principles and common writing loci, with Andreas Kalvos being the only exception. The poet Kostis Palamas, wishing to outline the basic features of the Heptanesian poetic expression, notes the worship of religion, the fatherland and the woman, while the worship of nature could also be added to the above.
The European Enlightenment and the Italian and European literature, due to the contacts of the islands with the West, as well as Cretan literature influenced literary men of the Ionian Islands, since, after occupation of Crete by the Turks, many Cretans fled to the Ionian Islands. Important inspiration on the work of Heptanesian poets was also drawn from the folk songs and the poetic work of Athanasios Christopoulos and Ioannis Vilaras.
Les principaux
représentants de l’Ecole Ionienne sont des contemporains et amis de Solomos. Ce
cercle d’écrivains inclut : Antonios Matessis (1794 – 1875), Georgios
Tertsetis (1800 – 1874), Ioulios Typaldos (1814 – 1883),
Iakovos Polylas (1826 – 1896), first publisher of Solomos’s works Τα Ευρισκόμενα, Gerasimos Markoras (1826 – 1911), Georgios Romas (1798 – 1867), Andreas Laskaratos (1811 – 1901), Spyridon Mlissinos (1833 – 1887), ο Aristotelis Valaoritis (1824 – 1879), Spyridon Zampelios (1815 – 1881), Georgios Kalosgouros (1853 – 1902) and Lorentzos Mavilis (1860 – 1912). Andreas Kalvos is a special case in the Heptanesian School (1792-1869); he followed his own poetic way, without being influenced by Solomos.
Details of Period’s
Anthology
·
Α.
Writers: 8
·
Β.
Texts: 25
- Poetry / texts in verse: 20
- Prose: 2
- Theater: 1
- Essay: 1
- Criticism: 1
·
C. Text language: Demotic, idiomatic, mixed