Book contents
- Temporal Forms and the Nineteenth-Century Mediterranean
- Cambridge Studies in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture
- Temporal Forms and the Nineteenth-Century Mediterranean
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I “Civis Romanus Sum”
- Part II “We Are All Greeks”
- Part III “Kindred with the Mummy”
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture
Part II - “We Are All Greeks”
Forging an Anglo-Hellenic Cultural Heritage
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 November 2024
- Temporal Forms and the Nineteenth-Century Mediterranean
- Cambridge Studies in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture
- Temporal Forms and the Nineteenth-Century Mediterranean
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I “Civis Romanus Sum”
- Part II “We Are All Greeks”
- Part III “Kindred with the Mummy”
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture
Summary
Part II centers Greece within British cultural heritage discourse, asking how British narratives about Greece shift after the Greek wars for independence produce a modern nation to vie with Britain’s depiction of itself as cultural (and material) heir to classicism. The temporal forms I identify in this part – inheritance and irony – define Britain in relation to Greece, both historically and geopolitically. Across Part II, I consider Lord Elgin’s acquisition of the Parthenon Marbles, their display in the British Museum, the conspiracy to whiten them on the eve of World War II, and the claims of universal cultural heritage that began in the nineteenth century and still feature in their exhibition. These narratives and their trajectory, I argue, demonstrate how classicism develops in and through cultural and eventually racial supremacy.
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- Information
- Temporal Forms and the Nineteenth-Century MediterraneanWriting British Heritage in Ancient Lands, pp. 101 - 160Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024