D. K. Toteras, A Twenty-Year-Old Letter on the Meaning of Hellenism and On Being a Corfiot Mandoukiotis

When I was working in Sydney, Australia, I contributed a paper to a Conference on the Culture and Politics of the Diaspora (February 1998). The title of my paper was:

Ambassadors of Hellenism: Bilingual and Anglophone Greek Writers Overseas (Capetanakis, Trypanis, Tsaloumas and Toteras)- with reference to Noukios, Calvos, Cavafy and Seferis.

My main theme was a re-evaluation of four Greek writers in English - Capetanakis, Trypanis, Tsaloumas and Toteras. The conference, The Culture and Politics of the Diaspora, was organised by the Centre for European Studies, University of New South Wales, Australia.

In preparing my paper, I wrote to Demetrius Toteras asking for his thoughts on aspects of the topic. His helpful reply was written on 24th December, 1997, thirty years after I had first met him on the island of  Corfu. 

Here are some extracts from his reply:

I am still interested to read some of the intriguing works he went on to itemise in his letter...

See, for instance, my previous posting: Greek-Town, San Francisco, World War II; The World Shuddered, Demetrius K. Toteras (from Bitter Tears); A Great Greek Writer

All Enquiries, contact: Nine Muses Press, P.O. Box 1138, Occidental, California 95465

See also, my essay on Toteras in the book "Corfu Blues", Ars Interpres, 2006:

Bodega Bay

Delphi, 1968

Photo of Jim by Toteras, 1979