Ierousalem: Anekdoto Hemerologio (Aprilios-Maios 1921) (review)

The publication of a hitherto unknown text by Angelos Sikelianos, the Journal he wrote during his pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1921, is considered a very important event in Greek philological circles. The original manuscript of this Journal was presented to well-known Sikelianos scholar Ritsa Fragou-Kikilia. by Anna Sikelianos. Fragou-Kikilia then edited it for publication and provided commentary.

As Fragou-Kikilia explains, the Journal was actually a notebook in which Sikelianos recorded his impressions of the Holy Land (in pencil). While underlining the peculiarities of his spelling and the difficulties of reading his handwriting, she makes certain observations about the ways in which the poet used articles, nouns, and other parts of speech. The text of the Journal follows in typed form, without any alteration of the original spelling and punctuation, but with some necessary annotation. According to Fragou-Kikilia, the Journal reveals the poet's way of experiencing various situations, the depth and breadth of his self-education and the inquisitiveness of his spirit; it also provides evidence for the creative use of his spiritual enrichment in the Holy Land in his subsequent works. It is, therefore, an important tool for philological research. Moreover, linking the Journal with Sikelianos's literary production (before and after 1921) illuminates unknown aspects of his life and answers basic questions about his works.

In the commentary, which is the longest part of the book, Fragou-Kikilia compares Sikelianos's use of specific words/themes in the Journal and in his subsequent works with the use of similar words/themes in the Bible and other religious texts. Through her thorough analysis, she reveals Sikelianos's sources of inspiration (ancient Greek and Latin writers, Orphic poetry, the Eleusinian mysteries, as well as Christian theological and mystical texts), his creative use of such sources, and his tendency toward religious comparativism, including his identification of Christ with the god Dionysus. In addition, she quotes and compares certain passages from the Journal with Sikelianos's literary texts. Her comparison illustrates how certain images (the sea, the islands, the mountains, the sunlight, etc.) that Sikelianos took from the Greek landscape gradually acquired metaphorical meaning, especially after his return from the Holy Land. Fragou-Kikilia attributes the transformation of nature images into universal and diachronic symbols to the experiences of his pilgrimage, and she establishes the organic relationship of the Journal to Sikelianos's literary production (poetry, prose, drama) as a whole. Her inter-textual study reveals her deep knowledge of the poet's work and his sources.

Fragou-Kikilia's exhaustive research and close reading of Sikelianos's texts, which reveal the recurrence of themes, ideas, images and concerns previously noted in the Journal, indicate that the poet's religious beliefs were already shaped before his trip to Jerusalem and that he was a conscious spiritual seeker. Consequently, his Journal entries are not mere descriptions of external events but texts with a complex and profound meaning. As Fragou-Kikilia also points out, nothing is merely lyrical, accidental, or impulsive in Sikelianos's texts. On the contrary, his thought follows the steps of an initiation process, expanding in concentric circles whose periphery is the dancing universe.

Fragou-Kikilia places the Journal within the context of Sikelianos's whole work and proves that he was an established writer when he went to Jerusalem, by mentioning his literary publications before 1921—mainly poetry—such as (1909), (4 vols., 1915 to 1917), (in 5 issues of the journal , from 1917 to 1919), «» (extracts appeared in the journal , from 1919 to 1920), an anthology of his poetry titled (, 1920), and some of his prose pieces. Moreover, she refers to his critical reception—44 critical essays were written on his early poetry—and quotes the first six of the poems dedicated to Sikelianos by other poets. Citing his early texts Fragou-Kikilia also traces the conception of his "Delphic Idea," as well as his self-image as the fifth evangelist, athlete, priest, and prophet...