‘Byron’s Life and His Eastern Tales’ 9th International Student Byron Conference, Messolonghi, 21–25 May 2014

Upon arrival, after a warm welcome from Rosa Florou of the Byron Society of Messolonghi, we were able to visit the Byron House and Research Centre. The Centre is home to a large library of books and collection of artefacts relating to Byron, his social and poetical circle, international nineteenth-century Philhellenism, and the Siege and Exodus of Messolonghi during the fight for Greek Independence. This fantastic collection, maintained by the Byron Society of Messolonghi, is a beautiful and inspirational place for scholars and enthusiasts. Afterwards, we were shown around Agios Spiridon, the Orthodox Cathedral of Messolonghi, which Byron visited; and from there we went on to the Municipal Museum of History and Art Gallery. This museum houses an exhibition of Byron artefacts and portraits, in addition to its collection of local historical items. We learned about the town’s history, notably the special role of Messolonghi in the fight for Greek Independence, as well as some of the acts of bravery and heroism performed by residents of Messolonghi during the siege and Exodus of 1826. Several of these acts were portrayed in some of the artworks on display in the gallery, such as De Lansac’s 1828 painting ‘The Messologhiot Woman’ and Kasolas’s copies of Vryzakis’s ‘The Exodus’ and ‘The Welcome of Lord Byron’. Finally, we enjoyed dinner at the ‘Archontiko’ restaurant which served a variety of excellent Greek dishes.

The academic proceedings opened with a paper from Professor Naji Oueijan (Notre Dame), titled ‘Eroticism in Byron’s Oriental Tales: An Alter-Ego to the Occident’. Professor Oueijan began with the idea that what is foreign becomes exotic, and therefore erotic, extending this concept to the Eastern female in the nineteenth-century Western imagination. He discussed how this was a reflection of Western patriarchy, arguing that the Romantic idea of sexual fulfilment through this fantasy says more about the West than the East. Oueijan went on to talk about Byron’s attempts to transform the gaze from one of eroticism to one of aestheticism, through his engagement with Hafiz (in translation) and the idea of love as divine rather than erotic. His argument that Byron’s oriental tales offer a remarkable opportunity to criticise Western erotic ideas fed into the next paper, Bassem Kamel’s (Notre Dame) discussion of ‘Goethe’s and Byron’s Oriental Affiliation: The Poet as a Bridge Between East and West’. Kamel argued that Goethe and Byron both bridge gaps between the East and the West through literature and activism, and that they discover that East and West have in common the core human values of love, the transcendental power of religion, and freedom from oppression. Kamel also studied both poets’ engagements with Hafiz, focusing on the idea of the poet as a citizen of the world. He argued that Byron exemplifies a celebration of love in a world fraught with contradictions and goes beyond human norms and constraints, using love as a universal language not confined by time, space, or creed. The final paper in the first panel was from Dana Harb (Notre Dame), who spoke about ‘Byron and Greek Women’. Harb’s paper argued that Eastern women’s actions had been masked until Byron began unmasking them through Haidée in Don Juan. Byron observed Greek women and presented their active roles rather than the traditionally understood passive ones. Harb explained how he exposed their true identities to refute the idea of them as pathetic, passive victims. Like Haidée, she argued, Byron believed that love knows no rank or regulation; and he showed this through Don Juan’s and Haidée’s shared experience of a temporary vision of equality between the sexes. Haidée’s death represents the women of the East who seek their own freedom, and Harb’s paper finished with a defence of Byron as a pro-revolutionist for feminism.

The second panel opened with Grace Nakhoul’s (Notre Dame) study of ‘Emotionally Adjusted Elements: Time and Space in The Corsair’. Nakhoul spoke about time as a controversial element in The Corsair in...