In a particularly moving atmosphere, the cycle of seminar meetings organized by the VITSENTZOS KORNAROS Cultural Center for the teachers of Sitia on the Erotokritos of Vitsentzos Kornaros, which ran from October to May, has come to an end. Its inspiration, coordinator and guide was Stefanos Kaklamanis, Professor of Modern Greek Philology at the University of Athens. The group’s regular online meetings were enriched by three in-person seminars, with the professor present in Sitia, devoted to the group, a tireless companion in the participants’ effort to get to know the text in all its dimensions through paths that were not only philological but also artistic, historical, sociological and philosophical. Forty hours of systematic work managed to turn a group into a company and its members into friends. The common ground of the meetings and their point of reference was Erotokritos. More relevant than ever, solid and at the same time open to all the “readings” we attempted, it managed, with its intertextual brilliance and expressive power, to light up paths uncharted until now: paths of philology and of the soul.
We warmly thank Professor Stefanos Kaklamanis for the great educational experience he offered us. Thanks to him, love, respect and devotion to the text and to people are values we have gained. We also thank all the participants, teachers and friends of the Cultural Center alike, for their consistency and enthusiasm throughout the months-long seminar.
We look forward to seeing you again at the upcoming conference in Sitia in July.
On behalf of the Board
Sofia Fousteri