‘Fair Greece, Sad Relic:

the Romantic poets and

the appropriation of

Classical Greece

Website: http://www.classicsmalta.org E-mail: classicsmaltasoc@gmail.com

Malta Classics Association

Archaeology Centre (Car Park 6) University of Malta

Msida

http://www.classicsmalta.org

Malta Classics Association

Public Lecture by Professor Peter

Vassallo MA (Oxon) , DPhil

(Oxon). FEA

Professor Peter Vassallo is

Professor of English Literature. He

was Head of Department from

1998 to 2006. He read English

(Honours) at the University of

Malta where he was awarded the

British Council Prize for English

Studies. He continued his studies as a

Commonwealth scholar and fellow at the University

of Oxford where he obtained the degrees of MA and

D.Phil. Professor Vassallo has recently been elected

Fellow of the English Association.

His publications include Byron: The Italian Literary

Influence and Byron and the Mediteranean which he

edited. He is a member of the board of Directors of

the International Byron Society and sits on the

advisory editorial board of La Questione Romantica

(Bologna) and Romanticism: A Journal (Edinburgh).

Professor Vassallo is founding editor of the Journal of

Anglo-Italian Studies (11 vols.) and is currently Chair

of the Institute of Anglo-Italian Studies which

promotes advanced research in this interdisciplinary

field of study.

He has published articles on the major Romantic

poets and has written a Section on ‘Romantic

Narrative Verse’ in Romanticism: An Oxford Guide

edited by Nicholas Roe (Oxford University Press).

He has been visiting professor at some of the leading

British and Italian Universities and has been invited as

a keynote speaker at major conferences. He is

currently president of the International Association

of University Professors of English (IAUPE).

Synopsis: In the course of this lecture, Professor Vassallo will examine Romantic Hellenism as a cultural and literary phenomenon which

achieved its peak in the first three decades of the nineteenth century. It

involved the recovery of classical models and was stimulated by

‘neoclassicism’ in which poets and artists derived inspiration from the

idyllic classical past which seemed to impinge significantly on the

present .

Philhellenism in Britain, as it came to be known, received an impetus in

the Elgin Marbles which were removed from the Parthenon at Athens

and exhibited at the British Museum in London, after they had been purchased for the nation in 1816. Shelley acknowledged the poets’

literary debt to the ancient Grecian model in his celebrated preface to

his ‘Greek’ poetic drama Hellas and Byron, who always upheld the

Greek yearning for freedom, died in this noble cause in Missolonghi.

Keats who visited the British Museum and saw the Elgin Marbles was inspired in his poetry to dwell “in the realm of Flora and old Pan” and

he constantly had a dictionary of classical mythology by his bedside.

Professor Vassallo will also dwell on the Romantic appropriation of the

myths of Prometheus and Hyperion.

Date: 25th November

Time: 18:30-20:15

Place: Villa Bologna, Attard

Entrance: Entrance is free but early seating would be greatly

appreciated since places are limited. Places cannot be guaranteed for

anyone turning up later than 18:15. A reception will be held after the

lecture. The general public is cordially invited to attend. Seating will

be allocated on a first come first served basis.

The Gardens of Villa Bologna

Many events are held at Villa Bologna but it is not often that we have the pleasure to host an organisation of which we are all such great enthusiasts. The Malta Classics Association is just over a

year old but it has already made sterling contribution to local cultural and intellectual life. I hope that over the coming years Villa Bologna can contribute to the goals of the Malta Classics Association by providing an ideal setting for the appreciation of what, after all, is the source of European civilisation. The Association’s guest lecturer for this

even t i s P r o f e s s o r P e t e r V a s s a l l o whose stellar r e p u t a t i o n ensures a n i g h t t o remember. I wish you all a thoroughly e n j o y a b l e evening. Jasper de Trafford

Contact Information

Tel: +356 21417973

Mobile: +356 99537925

email: info@villabologna.com

Postal Address:

Villa Bologna

San Anton Street

Attard ATD 1282

MALTA

www.villabologna.com

Event Sponsored by Villa Bologna

Villa Bologna is a much loved family home which has been lived in continuously by successors of the family that built it more than 250 years ago. The main villa was built in 1745 by Fabrizio Grech as a dowry for the wedding of his daughter Maria Teresa to Nicolas Perdicomati Bologna, second Count della Catena. The main house, the old orange groves and the baroque fountains date from this period. In the 1930s Lady Strickland created a new garden behind the villa where there is another spectacular fountain, a sunken pond, vine covered pergolas and a cactus garden. Villa Bologna is available throughout the year for conferences, weddings, filming and cultural events. Smaller events (up to 100 guests) can be held in indoors. A state of the art marquee overlooking The Dolphin Garden can be used for larger events. The Baroque Garden, The Dolphin Garden and The Sunken Pond can be used for large or small events. Villa Bologna has an exclusivity agreement with Island Caterers and Casapinta.