From the Island of Zakynthos the Founding of Modern Greek Poetic Language

Abstract

The purpose of this essay is to investigate the issue of linguistic identity in countries in which geographical and cultural boundaries are not clearly defined, as in the case of modern Greece and the Ionian Islands. This issue will be pursued by the analysis of Theo Angelopoulos’ movie Eternity and a day, inspired by the Eighteenth-century Greek poet Dionysios Solomos, in which the Greek director considers the language as a possibility to recover a lost identity. The bilingualism characterizing Solomos’ poetry, switching from Italian to modern Greek, should be considered in the light of the peculiar history of the Ionian Islands, which had been under Venetian Authority  for centuries. Having explored the linguistic topic in the Ionian Islands and in Greece, the author’s attention is then focused on the bilingualism of the Greek poet, with samples in Italian and modern Greek idioms, and frequent references to essays and writings exploiting the linguistic issue. Angelopoulos’ movie will be then illustrated, emphasizing its main themes: time and words. Focusing on this last aspect, the sections of the movie which draw direct or indirect inspiration from Solomos’ literary and poetic production will be analyzed, basing on the original screenplay in modern Greek. The connection between identity and language has been developed according also to Heidegger’s philosophy. Finally it will be demonstrated that the importance Angelopoulos assigns  to Solomos’ figure in order to explain the meaning of linguistic identity  is not so appropriate. Infact the Greek director doesn’t seem to keep in adequate consideration the significance of bilingualism in Solomos’ poetry.