Chapter 4 of Lawrence Durrell's Prospero's Cell - 'Karaghiozis, a Laic Hero' - was when I came across this. Α good six years ago. I shall now try to learn more. We have a poster for a local performance of the puppets in Corfu Town, which Lin framed to hang on the wall of Oliver's room. Karaghiozis Καραγκιόζης faces Hadjiavatis Χατζηαβάτης, his friend and straight-man - both descendants of shadow puppets that began in the Ottoman domain; Karagöz and Hacivat. This will be like parsing Punch and Judy for a Greek friend.
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'Laic' is a word I've been struggling with in translating the references I was given the other day to articles about the 'Laic' sculptor Aristides Metallinos. It comes from the Greek λαός meaning 'the common people' but without the disparagement attached where class and caste are familiar dynamics. Lin and I were at Emeral being treated by Tassos and Angeliki to coffee and cake...
...and a sheaf of twenty year old photographs that we found totally absorbing, lent by Angeliki's parents - son and daughter-in-law, Andrea and Anna, of the laic artist, copied for me by Tassos.
Angeliki had set up the meeting. We had no car so she drove us to and from Emeral, letting us shop for groceries at the nearby cash and carry that has replaced Sconto at Tzavros. She is gently familiarising us with the history of her grandfather. Until now we'd had just one slightly fuzzy face but now I see him closer. There he sits with his familiar hat - just like the one always worn by the island's patron saint - at work. The marble rests on two tyres to absorb the blows of the chisel...
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...the rest of his tools to hand on an upturned cardboard milk box. The references are ones I value even if I must wait to read the articles...and indeed have the wording of my references corrected:
My table...It came from beside the wheelie bins below the village, part legless, topless, worm eaten and covered in flaking paint, with no drawer handle. I found an old table abandoned for firewood and wrenched off two planks to make the top with broken edges scarfed in. The ends of the legs were replaced and levelled. All joints were re-screwed and glued. The whole sanded and sanded and sanded.
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'Laic' is a word I've been struggling with in translating the references I was given the other day to articles about the 'Laic' sculptor Aristides Metallinos. It comes from the Greek λαός meaning 'the common people' but without the disparagement attached where class and caste are familiar dynamics. Lin and I were at Emeral being treated by Tassos and Angeliki to coffee and cake...
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| Coffee and cakes at Emeral |
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| Του λαἲκού λιθογλύπτη Αριστείδη Μεταλληνού |
...the rest of his tools to hand on an upturned cardboard milk box. The references are ones I value even if I must wait to read the articles...and indeed have the wording of my references corrected:
Dear Tassos. Can you have a look at the way I have written out - in Greek and English - the references to the work of Aristidis Metallinos that we talked about when we met at Emeral last Tuesday? Send me corrections, please.
1. Γίαννη Μ Μαρή (1978) Βιογραφικό - Αριστείδης Ζαχ. Μεταλληνός, Απάνθισμα Γράμματων και Τέχνων, Επιμέλεια Έκδοσεως, Αθήναι, σελ. 611-617
1. Yianni M Mari (1978) Biography - Aristidis Zach. Metallinos, Anthology of Literature and Art, Epimelia Publications, Athens, pp. 611-617
2. Ευρυδίκης Αντζουλάτου-Ρετσίλα (1985) ‘Θέματα Κέρκυραἲκής λαογραφίας στο έργο του λαἲκού λιθογλύπτη Αριστείδη Μεταλληνού’, Δημοσιεύθηχε στο Περιοδιχό Μυριόβιβλος, τεύχος 7, σελ. 37-47
2. Efrithikis Antzοulatοu-Retsila (1985) ‘The folklore of Corfu in the art of the traditional stone-sculptor Aristidi Metallinou’, article in Miriovivlos Periodical, issue 7, pp. 37-47
3. Ευρυδίκη Αντζουλάτου-Ρετσίλα (2005) ‘Θέματα Κέρκυρα ι κής λαογράφιας στο έργο του λαἲκού λίθογλύπτη Αριστείδη Μεταλληνού’ στο Ευρυδίκη Αντζουλάτου-Ρετσίλα (εκδότης), Πολιτιστικά και Μουσείολογικά Σύμμεικτα, Έκδοσεις Παπαζήση, Αθήναι, σελ.47-70 [ISBN: 960-02-1860-9]
3. Efrithiki Antzοulatοu-Retsila (2005) ‘The folklore of Corfu in the art of the traditional stone-sculptor Aristidi Metallinou’, in Efrithikis Antzοulatοu-Retsila (editor), Culture and Heritage Combined, Papazisi Publications, Athens, pp. 47-70 [ISBN: 960-02-1860-9]
If you see any accents in the wrong place, or can edit my translations, do let me know, Tassos. I have the impression that articles 2 and 3 are perhaps the same, with the first one in the periodical Miriovivlos being re-published in the 2005 collection, edited by the author of the article in the periodical. Are the two articles the same, or is the second that appears 20 years later, re-written? Best wishes, Simon, Σάïμον και Λίντα Μπάντλεϊ**** ****
My table...It came from beside the wheelie bins below the village, part legless, topless, worm eaten and covered in flaking paint, with no drawer handle. I found an old table abandoned for firewood and wrenched off two planks to make the top with broken edges scarfed in. The ends of the legs were replaced and levelled. All joints were re-screwed and glued. The whole sanded and sanded and sanded.
