Page 87 - Beholding Liberty!

PERISTYLE
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Konstantinos Oikonomos of the Oikonomoi
Four Books of grammar or general lessons, vol. I Vienna: By the Printing House of Ioan. Varth. Tsvekiu, 1817 Library of the Hellenic Parliament
BORN IN TSARITSANI OF THESSALY, the clergyman Konstantinos Oikonomos (1780- 1857), although he had not received higher educa- tion in Europe, worked for a decade (1809-1819) as teacher in the progressive Philological Gymnasium of Smyrna, producing at the same time a rich work as writer.
The Γραμματικά/Grammatica, structured in two parts (Aesthetics and Poetics), represent one of the first attempts to systematically examine, from a theo- retical and historical viewpoint, the topics of produc- tion and critical approach to literature, as well as to
1.2.16
Dimitrios Gouzelis
demarcate the relations between the Neo-Hellenic literary production of the time and the equivalent European kinds.
For the composition of the Grammatica Oikonomos made use of the ancient tradition, the Poetics of Ar- istotle being the archetype, and of similar European textbooks.
According to the initial plan, the Grammatica cou- pled with his Rhetorics, which had been published in 1813, along with a third volume which though was never published, aspired to form the first Greek work on the prototype of the European «Belles-Lettres».
The judgement of Paris. Poem mythological, erotic, and ethical
Trieste: By the printer Antonios Maldinis, 1817 Library of the Hellenic Parliament
DIMITRIOS GOUZELIS (1774-1843) from Zakynthos systematically publishes books of pedagogic enlightening content in a scholarly language. Among them lies The judgement of Par- is, a work of questionable aesthetic value, with interesting, however, judgments about a wide spectrum of versatile topics, as it is eloquent- ly commented upon in the «classified» adver- tisement about the book in the columns of the Φιλολογικού Τηλέγραφου/Philological Telegraph of the year 1817: «The poet wishing to render this book didactic and useful, did not neglect to en- close almost all the Mythology of the forefathers, to talk extensively about natural history, ethics, laws, the upbringing of children, trade, tactics and countless other topics useful and euphoric».
On page 367 we see the registered contributors: the method of preregistering contributors was the common manner of circulating printed books from the second half of the 18th century until the Revolution. And for this reason, the sirs of Tri-
este, who supported with their preregistering the editorial effort under discussion, are mentioned by name.
THE AWAKENING OF HELLENISM From Enlightenment to Patriotism 87