The Durrell Library of Corfu

ISLANDS OF THE MIND

Corfu, Greece

23-28 June 2019

The Durrell School/Library has always attracted the enquiring and adventurous mind, welcoming its guests into a community of intellectual excitement. “ISLANDS OF THE MIND” provided stimulus for all participants across a range of literary and scientific issues.

FOCUS

The festival examined aspects of Island Studies, focussing on:

– indigenous island writing compared with writing by the “visitor”

– the literature and psychology of “islomania” – the “affliction of spirit” for those “who find islands irresistible”

– the study of islands as a microcosm of biodiversity

– the “tourist gaze” and tourism as a dimension of island development

This was the most significant gathering for many years of experts on the lives and works of Lawrence Durrell, Gerald Durrell and Theodore Stephanides and on the writers of Corfu.

In addition to these authors, we also discussed the work of Corfiot writers Konstantin Theotokis (1872-1923) and Spyros Plaskovitis (1917-2000).

At the same time, the Durrell Library of Corfu launched the first issue of the online journal C.20 with a substantial section devoted to “Durrell Studies” – see http://www.c20ajournal.com

VENUES

Meetings were held in Corfu city-centre at the Solomos Museum, the former home of Dionysios Solomos (1798-1857), the founder of modern Greek poetry and author of the Greek national anthem “Hymn to Liberty”. The house has been faithfully restored by our hosts, the Society of Corfu Studies.

For one session, we travelled by caïque (traditional fishing vessel) from Corfu Old Port to the White House (Lawrence and Nancy Durrell’s home at Kalami) with an opportunity for swimming at the “Shrine of St Arsenius”.

SPECIAL FEATURE

A unique feature of “ISLANDS OF THE MIND” was the publication in a limited edition of Lawrence Durrell’s previously unpublished 1930s novella The Magnetic Island (set in the Ionian islands, with illustrations by Nancy Durrell and dedicated to Theodore Stephanides) with a specially commissioned translation into Greek by Vera Konidari.

We also announced imminent publication by Cambridge Scholars Publishing of ENDPAPERS & INKLINGS: Uncollected Prose by Lawrence Durrell 1933-1988 edited by Richard Pine.

Selected papers from ISLANDS OF THE MIND, edited by Richard Pine and Vera Konidari will be published in 2020 by Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Convenors: William Apt (Attorney at Law, Austin, Texas); Vera Konidari (Society of Corfu Studies and biographer of Theodore Stephanides); Richard Pine (Director, Durrell Library of Corfu and author, Lawrence Durrell: the Mindscape).

PROGRAMME

(photos by Rony Alfandary and Spyros Sourvinos)

SUNDAY 23 JUNE

7pm Welcome reception

MONDAY 24

09.30-10.00 Opening address by Richard Pine

10-11.30 Keynote speaker: Godfrey Baldacchino (Professor of Sociology, University of Malta; UNESCO co-chair of Island Studies, University of Prince Edward Island, Canada; author/editor of many books on island studies including the Routledge International Handbook of Island Studies)

“A Psychology of Islanders” GodfreyBALDACCHINO

Godfrey Baldacchino

Respondent: Spyros ORFANOS (Erikousa/NYU) “Ereikousa on my mind: a case study of Island Psychology”

SpyrosORFANOS Spyros Orfanos

coffee break

12-1.30pm Lee DURRELL – Islands and the study of biodiversity

LeeDURRELL2 Lee Durrell

Respondent: Pete HAY (University of Tasmania) “Island biogeography, a perspective from Tasmania”

PeteHAY

Pete Hay

7-8pm Screening of “The Garden of the Gods” (BBC, 1967)

TUESDAY 25

10-11.30 Rony ALFANDARY – “Reading Lawrence Durrell’s Psyche”

RonyALFANDARY Rony Alfandary

Respondent: Dominic GREEN (Boston)

DominicGREEN Dominic Green

coffee break

12-1.00pm Ravindran NAMBIAR – “Indian ways of locating Durrell’s key”

RavindranNAMBIAR Ravindran Nambiar

1pm-2pm Éilís NÍ DHUIBHNE: Ag Dul Isteach go dti an Oilean / Going into the Island”

EilisNiDHUIBHNE Eilis Ni Dhuibhne***

7-8.30pm Anna KORNILIOU: a presentation on Konstantin Theotokis (with the participation of a descendant, Dimitris Theotokis) followed by a screening of (excerpts from) “Oi sklavoi sto desma tous” [Slaves in their Chains]

Anna Korniliou