The Archive of History and Art-The War Archive-Andreas and Annabella Freris War Archive invites us on Saturday 24 February 2024 at 19.30

in the online presentation (via the Zoom platform) of Vassos Vomvas

Commemoration…

The events and encounters of a personal journey as a metaphor of Greek history, with Mytilene as the starting point.

The event will be introduced by the Doctor of Literature, literary critic and author, Ms Anthoula Daniel

The topic of the presentation

“Commemoration, a hybrid word. It’s not in the dictionaries. It is an invention of the writer Vassos I. Vomvas to speak of a time when even that time no longer exists. But it is deeply engraved in memory.” With these words, Anthoula Danielle, Professor of Modern Greek Literature, refers to the first book by Vassos Vomvas. And adds: “Vassos Vomvas’s Commemoration is a personal look at the events of his life, but also a miniature of what Greece has experienced, with Lesvos as the occasion, politically, socially, artistically. A generous look at the beautiful era, but also at the people who stood by his side. […] It is all that he had collected inside himself and he feels that it is time to bring it to light, to remind others who have forgotten it or the younger ones who never learned it. It is a book in memory, a repayment of bills of honour and soul to the beautiful and beloved of another era, the repayment of which Vasos Vomvas undertook on behalf of us all.”

Within the pages of Vassos Vomvas’ books, the dreamy Mytilene of the inter-war period is revealed, with its dances, receptions and shows, fashion, love, lawyers and writers. Mytilene living its own “Spring” away from the dictates and influences of the capital. Mytilene of the war, occupation and liberation is also presented: the island no longer has the nazi Cross, but the father is dismissed from the Prefecture for political reasons. Panagiotis Kanellopoulos is looking for a Takis Evagelinos, while Vasos Vomvas studies in Thessaloniki, hangs out with Teris Chrysos and supports Apollon of Kalamaria. A few years later, in the early 1960s, he serves his military service in Serres and then settles in Athens, around the same time that Mitsakis sues Manos Hadjidakis. These are just some of the traces that Vasos Vomvas leaves in his books, in case we discover the way back to a lost dignity today. Some of them we hope he will share with us tonight.

The presentation will be accompanied by the projection of photographs

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83045440241?pwd=VHBmc24yZGY0MEdBYXVSNUw5WDJOQT09 

Meeting ID: 830 4544 0241

Passcode: 073455