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Zdravka Mihaylova

Especially for GRReporter

Manolis Maragoulis was born in Larissa. He graduated from the University of Thessaloniki, specialised in modern Greek literature and supported his doctoral thesis at the University of Cyprus. Systematically involved in the study of the Greek community in Egypt, since 2008 he has been the director of the Alexandria branch of the Hellenic Foundation for Culture and the museum located at the C.P. Cavafy’s apartment there. His book Time to modernize: Egypt and the Greek-Egyptian intelligentsia, 1919-1939 (Cyprus University Press-Gutenberg, Athens) has been just published and is exploring the perception of the Greek-Egyptian intelligentsia of Egypt’s cultural renaissance during the interwar period. The author uses theoretical models and the interdisciplinary methodology of post-colonial studies, particularly that introducing the counter-narrative of Orientalist and postcolonial discourse, using the view of M. Foucault on the interaction between power and production of knowledge. Exploring a wide range of texts of Greek intellectuals in Egypt Maragoulis examines the typology of relations with the dominant ideology of British rulers.

During this period the prevailing ideology among the official Greek-Egyptian intellectuals is that of the civilizing mission of the Greek commercial elite, scientists and scholars, "stamped by the right" of the millennial historical presence Greeks in Egypt since Pharaonic times. Thus, the economic and cultural advancement of the Egyptians is attributed to the catalytic influence of the Greeks, and of the Europeans, respectively. On the other hand, dominant beliefs among the Greek community remain silent about the Egyptian subaltem classes. In an attempt to reconstruct the collective identity a discussion has been taking place since the 1930s. Marxist-minded intellectuals of the generation to which the famous author of the trilogy Drifting Cities (Ακυβέρνητες πολιτείες), the writer Stratis Tsirkas belongs, intervene with increasing dynamics.

QUESTION: Tell us more about the history of the house in the old apartment building on the former Rue Lepsius, later known as the ‘Sharm el-Sheikh’ (renamed to C.P.Cavafy Street in 2010), where the poet lived during the last twenty-five years of his life. Cavafy himself writes aphoristically that the ground floor of the building housed a brothel, the Greek hospital was located opposite and the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate around the corner. An entire universe that reflects the circle of life: love, faith, illness and death .... Cavafy used to say: "Where else could I live better? Below me is the brothel that heals the needs of flesh. The church where sins are absolved is next door. A little further down is the hospital where we die."
 
MARAGOULIS: In general, these three "homes" - of the flesh, the spirit and the mortality of the body - have their equivalents in the brothel, the Orthodox Church and the hospital. Perhaps their location in close proximity to each other has stimulated the poet to choose to live in this building in the then-popular Alexandria’s Attarin quarter. At the same time, however, we should take into account the fact that Cavafy was a public servant - he worked for years for the Egyptian Ministry of Irrigation - and this means that he did not have the means to live in a wealthy, expensive and more elegant neighbourhood.
The well maintained dusk-lit home of C.P.Cavafy sheltered not only the dwelling of a solitary man, more or less following the ritual of a monotonously repeated daily life, but became a center of attraction for visitors, welcoming lively discussions of a multinational Pleiade (Englishmen, Frenchmen, Italians, Greeks, Egyptians, Syro-Levantines, etc.) of men of fine arts and letters who traveled to Alexandria and stayed there - some briefly, other longer. The concept was born and the most creative part of the poetic works of C.P.Cavafy was articulated there, in the rooms of this house, in moments of spiritual exaltation or of grim loneliness: "I am a poet of old age," the poet used to say. Furthermore, we should mention that this space was a centre where his closest friends in Alexandria, with his consent and encouragement, as suggested, have held discussions and decided to organise a kind of mechanism to protect him and his works from the numerous critics, challenging and tossing them in doubt.

QUESTION: This apartment was purchased to shelter the house-museum of C.P.Cavafy, established in 1992 by the unforgettable Kostis Moskof (1939-1998), head of the cultural service at the Greek Embassy in Egypt. The issue still remains open with the future opening of a C.P.Cavafy Museum in the Koletis building in Plaka in Athens. Under the initiative of the president of the Seminar for Modern Greek Studies (Σπουδαστήριο Νέου Ελληνισμού) Manolis Savvidis the poet’s archive rich in manuscripts, books, his personal items and more will become accessible to visitors. Do the Egyptians perceive this world-renowned poet as their own, do they have any “practical" reasons for keeping his home as a museum (tourist attraction)?
 
MARAGOULIS: First, I consider it appropriate to emphasize the enormous gratitude we owe to – blessed be his memory - Kostis Moskof, who succeeded, after years of painful efforts, to save the poet’s the apartment and turn it into a museum with the support of D. Stratigakis. It is also worth noting that Lena Savvidi – the wife of the remarkable professor Y. Savvidis – generously contributed to Moskof’s initiative by providing numerous photos, portraits of the poet and his family members. Thus, various wishes should not be addressed through the prism of rivalry, but as complementary and mutually nourishing in a common effort of shedding multifold light on the universal dimensions of the Alexandrian poet.

In its approximately two decades of existence the Cavafy House-Museum attracted numerous ordinary and famous visitors, pilgrims, including heads of states from the four corners of the earth Recently, I had the pleasure of showing around the actress Charlotte Rampling, who read his poems at the Athens Concert Hall this season. Poetry and other art-related events have been held there regularly over the past two years with the support of the branch of the Hellenic Foundation for Culture in Alexandria. We are actually talking about a fruitful intercultural dialogue with Egyptian poets and intellectuals. The fact is that Egyptian intellectual circles already perceive Cavafy as a Greek poet, who was born, lived, died and was buried in Alexandria, and therefore he has become an integral part of the cosmopolitan culture of this city. The house-museum is one of its most celebrated and recognized cultural institutions. Tangible evidence for this is the renaming of the street where the particular building is located - from ‘Sharm el-Sheikh’ to ‘C.P.Cavafy’, on the initiative and implementation of  the former governor of Alexandria in cooperation with the former mayor of Athens, Nikitas Kaklamanis. I should mention that during the critical days of the recent riots in Egypt the guard of the museum along with residents from the neighbourhood have the task of protecting it, guarding the area day and night  from possible looting and vandalism by groups of criminals released from prison by the previous regime to intimidate the citizens.

QUESTION: In 2009 I had the opportunity to participate with other Greek scholars from different countries in the symposium "Cavafia" held in Cairo and Alexandria. In front of the poet’s writing desk all participants, and you too, read his poems, each in their own language. While I was reading my Bulgarian translation of the poem ‘Mirror at the Entrance’ I was looking at an old mirror on the opposite wall and ha the feeling that the reflection of the artist who lived in this house has remained there. Will the institution "Cavafia" inspired by Kostis Moskof evolve in the future?

MARAGOULIS: As you know, the initiative for organizing the “Cavafia” symposium belongs to the Greek Embassy in Cairo, a tradition inherited from the time of Moskof and even preceding him. When we are invited to get on with it we will bring forward our proposals, invariably within a low-budget program. I hope this institution established to promote the works of Cavafy in Egypt will not be abandoned for reasons related to the lack of funds.

QUESTION: An event in the artistic life of Athens was the exhibition of the artist Harris Xenos inspired by C.P.Cavafy’s poetry which was shown at the Benaki Museum of Islamic Art from February to March this year. They say that poetry is speaking painting and painting -silent poetry. Now, you've attempted to assemble in C.P.Cavafy’s museum paintings, photographic works and small sculptures by artists from around the world, inspired by Cavafy’s verse. After the The Anthology of Poems Influenced by C.P. Cavafy published by the Centre for Greek Language (Thessaloniki, 2000), which examines his influence on foreign poets, the focus now is on Cavafy’s impact on other arts. More than twenty works were donated to the museum so far. One of the artists already presented in this collection, Stoyan Donev, was born and educated in Bulgaria but has lived and worked in Athens for years. In 2010, the branch of the Hellenic Foundation for Culture in Alexandria organised an exhibition of his works. Which artists have already responded to the call?

MARAGOULIS: This is a campaign that began during the C.P.Cavafy Symposium in 2009. Then, the Bulgarian Stoyan Donev and George Angel, a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bucharest donated their works to the museum. A year later, the Thessaloniki artist Sarandis Gagas with whom we met at last year's Biennale in Alexandria, showed a lively interest in the initiative and sent his canvas with dedication. Following the promotion of our efforts among artistic circles in Greece and other European countries about twenty paintings were donated - drawings and photographs of an equal number of artists, such as Panos Mitropoulos who lives in Amsterdam, Paula Kouwenhoven from the Netherlands, the German Wolfgang Brenner, the Lithuania Rolana Ceckauskaite, Dodog Soeseno from Thailand, to name but a few of the donors.

C.P.Cavafy’s poetry and the life mythology of the Alexandrian sage had an impact on all spheres of art. Our philosophy is to collect at the Cavafy Museum as many works of art as possible that are inspired by the poet and thus, the collection could be utilized in various ways, for example, periodic visits of exhibitions in different countries, publishing a multilingual catalogue of the collection etc.

QUESTION: Egyptian Greeks, especially those of Alexandria, are distinguished for their openness to the world, for their commercial and intellectual potential, and especially for their contribution to the progress of Greece through educational and cultural  establishments. In social, institutional and administrative terms their community is consolidated to a great extent around three poles: the Alexandria Patriarchate, the Greek consulate in the city and the Greek Community. These are part of the Greeks of the Diaspora who have a completely different experience than the majority of their compatriots who live in Greece. The wealthy and eminent Egyptian Greeks are distinguished for their cosmopolitanism, they have direct contact with the world economy of their time, live in the political orbit of the greatest power of the late nineteenth century - the British Empire. The expansion of the British market increases entrepreneurial opportunities - especially for Greek traders engaged in tobacco and cotton export. Revived by Mohammed Ali Pasha, Alexandria became the financial and economic capital of Egypt. The community of Egyptian Greeks becomes the cradle of the so-called “national benefactors” and prominent donor families like the Benakis, Averoff., Salvagos, Cotsicas, Zervudakis and others emerged from it.

MARAGOULIS: As you pointed out, the colony of Egyptian Greeks, the advanced part of which included the Alexandrian Greeks, for various reasons has developed into a historical framework in which the dominant force was the British colonial governance model of the Egyptian state. The big capital of the Egyptian Greeks was linked to the English capital in various ways. However, the philanthropy and the so-called “national benefactors” were amongst the fundamental pillars of the system of social welfare underpinning the Greek colony in the nineteenth and the early twentieth century. This ideology motivates the activities of the famous colleges, hospitals, orphanages, nursing homes, charity organizations and others.
The independence of Egypt in the early fifties of the twentieth century marks the end of the colonial era and subsequently leads to the continuous emigration and repatriation of the Greek population because it can no longer find a satisfactory position in the new political and economic conditions. So, it is fair to discuss these issues frequently, looking back to a past of prosperity and rich cultural heritage. However, nowadays there are still profitable companies of young people - second and third generation Alexandrian Greeks who chose to remain in Egypt and to develop their businesses here. Let's hope that the "post-Mubarak" era will benefit their enterpreneurship and will attract innovative investments from Greece with prospects for development that will bring recovery to their potential.

QUESTION: At the last congress of the European Association for Modern Greek Studies in Granada in 2010 you presented a paper entitled "From the Alexandria of "blood ties" to Nasser's Egypt: continuity and rupture in the identity of the Greek community in Egypt" (Από την Αλεξάνδρεια του «αίματος» στην Αίγυπτο του Νάσερ) where you spoke about the formation of ethnic identity related to the reproduction of the image of the Other, of the different one, to whom stereotypic traits and innate qualities usually reprimanded by the  collective We are attributed. Thus the collective We wishes to differentiate from the primitive, uncivilized and barbaric, which is the symbol of the other" as you mention. In this light, you explore the dominant ideology of Egyptian Hellenism in different types of texts (literary, historiographic, autobiographical, publicist, etc.) in perceiving the events which marked the formation of national identity among the Egyptians: the movement of Ahmad Orabi (1881-1882), the Egyptian Revolution of 1919 and the creation of an independent Egyptian state. It reproduces stereotypes according to which bigoted mobs rioted indiscriminately against foreigners, especially against the Greeks. After the movement of the Egyptian officers in 1952 that led to the independence of the country, the Egyptian-Greek intellectuals with Marxist leanings increasingly intensify their anti-colonial criticism and discourse, insisting on the on the decolonisation of mindsets. Could you comment on these phenomena in the light of the recent riots and unrest in Egypt against the Mubarak regime?

MARAGOULIS: I think it is relatively early to look for and analyze the reflections of the unrest in Egypt in Western literature and other forms of art, because the events are too recent. But one could venture to study the "image" formed by the leading print, audiovisual and electronic media concerning the speed and efficiency of their coverage, while the events were still under development. The eighteen days of constantly evolving mass peaceful demonstrations and rallies with undeviating determination and admirable heroism succeeded in forcing Mubarak to resign and lead to the downfall of the cruel repressive mechanism which formed the basis of the previous regime.

As for the publications in the Greek press, of course, the ones that I had the opportunity to follow, as we had no Internet access here in Egypt during the extremely critical period from 28 January to 4 February, I would like to mention the particularly productive discussion between Nicholas Voulelis, Antonis Liakos and Myrsini Zorba published in one of the Sunday editions of the newspaper ‘Avghi’.

In any case, the issue is not exhausted by the days of riots and unrest. It still triggers considerable interest due to the fact that the prospects of Egypt’s political future remain open. The nature of the political system, the forces that will prevail, the political parties, which are expected to be formed, the role of the military, the actions of the powerful foreign forces, the dynamics of the Islamist movement of the Muslim Brotherhood, the civil society, the poverty and misery in which many people in the country live, the unemployment among young people with high level of education are some of the thorny issues that a "new" Egypt will face in it’s way. No matter what direction the developments in Egypt will take, these will inevitably affect the rest of the Arab world. The Western world is facing its own chronic prejudices and stereotypical constructions in viewing the Egyptian people as a passive mass locked in a fatalism or unable to view them strengthening a parliamentary system of government.