Guest post by Dimitrios Kanellakis, Early Career Fellow in Hellenic Studies 2022-2023
Research topic during fellowship: New Mimnermus
Recent discoveries of lyric fragments have excited both classical scholars and the general public. Our generation has been lucky enough to welcome the ‘new Simonides’ (1992), ‘new Archilochus’ (2005), ‘new’ (2004) and ‘the newest Sappho’ (2014), and these poets have gained immense popularity which has been ‘cashed out’ in new translations, conferences, edited volumes, commentaries, and so on.
But Mimnermus of Smyrna, a much-appraised yet much-neglected, elegiac poet of the Archaic period, has not been as lucky. Not updated by any papyrological discoveries, his corpus remains slim; only one monograph published in our century reserves some space for him… in its subtitle, [1] while the last full-scale commentary on his poems is now thirty years old.[2] Therefore, the aim of my project is straightforward: to bring this unjustly understudied poet—indeed “the most accomplished and the most musical” early elegist [3] —back to the forefront of research, and to advocate that, however exciting a papyrological discovery may be, one does not need new fragments to rediscover a classical author, insofar as, to quote Italo Calvino, every rereading of a classic is as much a voyage of discovery as the first reading.
What I mean is that, apart from offering a new (i.e. bibliographically updated) commentary, my purpose is to actually re-introduce Mimnermus, whose melancholy, I argue against the opinio communis, is only a generic (i.e. pertinent to elegy) pretext. Behind that poetic facade lurks a very playful poet, not just verbally and metrically spirited, but also ironical and risqué on occasions, and experimenting with advanced narrative techniques. My commentary, therefore, is a literary one: figurative language, alternative meanings, authorial markers, implied audience, performative clues, program of composition, narrative structure, intertextuality, and reception are my main focus.
On his experience visiting CHS US
My two-week stay at CHS was an unexpectedly—given its short duration—rich experience. Above all, I had the opportunity to meet the other fellows (philologists, historians, archaeologists, philosophers, anthropologists, and so on) and engage in inspiring discussions concerning our projects; receiving feedback from scholars who work outside my narrow field of specialism helped me reconsider some of the questions I pursue in my research—questions and aspects which might have seemed trivial to me or escaped my attention altogether, yet very important for attracting a wider readership.
Secondly, within that very much friendly network, I was able to consult senior and younger colleagues regarding my career plans and options, and receive honest, practical, and encouraging support, which unfortunately is not always available within university departments. From my side, I was happy to share my ideas about CHS’ own function, in an open discussion with the director, and about the prospects for promoting Classics in the US, in a meeting of our group with the Ambassador of Greece to Washington.
Last but not least, the very opportunity to visit Washington with its breath-taking landmarks and museums for any taste, on my first trip to the US indeed, as well as the full access to CHS’ resources (of which I mostly value its quiet environment and online scanning service) was a lifetime gift. I am grateful for that experience and highly recommend this program to other early-career scholars.
About Dimitrios Kanellakis
Dimitrios Kanellakis read Greek Philology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and continued his postgraduate and doctoral studies in Classics at the University of Oxford, as a scholar of Alexander S. Onassis, A. G. Leventis and Lilian Voudouri foundations. His research interests revolve around Greek drama, Greek lyric, literary theory, and classical reception. He is the author of Aristophanes and the Poetics of Surprise (De Gruyter 2020), editor of The Pathologies of Love in Classical Literature (De Gruyter 2021), and co-editor, with Dr Almut Fries of Ancient Greek Comedy: Genre–Texts–Reception (De Gruyter 2020). He is currently an Adjunct Lecturer at the Department of Classics and Philosophy, University of Cyprus, and a Research Associate at the Faculty of Classics, University of Oxford.
Early Career Fellowships in Hellenic Studies in Greece and Cyprus
The annual Early Career Fellowships in Hellenic Studies in Greece and Cyprus program aims to support postdoctoral researchers whose work requires continued access to material on site. Learn more about this research opportunity on the Early Career Fellowships in Hellenic Studies webpage.
[1] S. R. Slings, Symposium, Speech and Ideology: Two Hermeneutical Issues in Early Greek Lyric, with Special Reference to Mimnermus, Amsterdam 2000.
[2] A. Allen, Fragments of Mimnermus, Stuttgart 1993.
[3] C. M. Bowra, Early Greek Elegists, London 1938, 34.