Supervisors info:
Επιβλέπων: Μηνάς Αλ. Αλεξιάδης, Ομότιμος Καθηγητής Λαογραφίας
Μέλος: Γεώργιος Ι. Θανόπουλος, Επίκουρος Καθηγητής Λαογραφίας
Μέλος: Βασιλική Χρυσανθοπούλου, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια Κοινωνικής Λαογραφίας
Summary:
The folk poet Elias Emm. Vassilaras was born on May 25, 1948 in the village of Spoa in Karpathos and is today considered one of the leading folk lyricists of the Dodecanese. We must clarify here that in Karpathos the poet is more characterized as a mantinadolos or mantinadoros, since he is the one who composes the mantinades, the dominant genre of poetry on the island, on his own.
The present work consists of the Introduction and a total of six chapters. In the Introduction we refer to the aim of the Master's Thesis, the methodology of its research and preparation, as well as its structure. In the first chapter we will talk about oral literature and folk songs. In the second chapter, we will refer to modern folk poetry and folk poetry in general, its main characteristics and its production method, while at the same time, we will deal with the mantinades in Karpathos. In the third chapter, we will focus on the life and work of Elias Emm. Vasilaras, presenting and selectively analyzing an (auto)biographical interview and a multi-verses autobiography consisting of couplets. In the fourth chapter, we will present the poetic work concerning Elias Vasilaras' couplets, classified according to the themes they refer to, citing all the verses that we collected from his archive. There are a total of 250 works -ranging from 1 to 350 couplets-, spanning a total of 4,000 couplets or 8,000 verses and divided into 19 thematic sections (couplets with memories of his childhood and youth, couplets dedicated to the loved ones of his family, couplets for Karpathos and Spoa, etc.), with the most numerous of all concerning the works written on the occasion of the important events in the life cycle of his compatriots. Let us clarify here, that in this work we use the terms couplet and mantinade, although in Spoa, the place of origin of Elias Vasilaras, as well as in other villages of Karpathos and beyond, all couplets are called mantinades, even if they have not been sung. In the fifth chapter we will include all the material we have collected and which belongs to the categories Poems, Songs. Finally, in the sixth chapter we will develop the stylistic elements of the poet's mantinades and couplets and we will try to interpret the social data that derive from the poetry of Elias Vasilaras. The work is completed with the conclusions that emerge from the entire research and with the appendix, which presents photographic material, which includes personal photographs, photographs of manuscripts with poetic works, including the entire manuscript album entitled "My Poems", as well as photographs with published verse or prose texts by Elias Emm. Vasilaras.
Elias Vasilaras is an extremely clever and eloquent man, a mobile encyclopedia of knowledge on everything related to the folk culture of Karpathos and the Dodecanese in general. He unfolds through his poetry, historical, political, social and personal events, with a gaze that often ranges from mocking and satirical to highly critical.
Keywords:
Folk poetry, Karpathos, mantinades, Ilias Vasilaras
