Professor Roderick Beaton

Main Publications
Authored books
Folk poetry of modern Greece. Cambridge University Press, 1980, 229 pp.,
paperback reissue, 2004
The medieval Greek romance. Cambridge University Press, 261 pp.; 2nd ed., revd
and expanded, Routledge, London 1996, 301pp. Greek translation: Kardamitsa,
Athens 1996; Italian translation: Rubbettino, 1997
George Seferis. Series: Studies in Modern Greek. Bristol Classical Press, 1991, 130
pp.
An introduction to Modern Greek literature. Oxford University Press, 1994, 426 pp.
Greek translation, revised and slightly expanded: Nefeli, Athens 1996; paperback
edition, revised and updated: Oxford, 1999, 420 pp.
George Seferis: Waiting for the angel. A biography. London and New Haven: Yale
University Press, 2003 (512 pp.); Greek translation: Oceanida, Athens, 2003
Edited books
The Greek novel, A.D. 1 - 1985. Croom Helm (London), 1988, 229 pp.
(with Charlotte Rouech) The making of Byzantine history: studies dedicated to
Donald M. Nicol. Publications of the Centre for Hellenic Studies (KCL), no. 1.
London: Variorum [= Ashgate], Aldershot 1993, xxviii + 200 pp.
(with David Ricks) Digenes Akrites: new approaches to Byzantine heroic poetry
Publications of the Centre for Hellenic Studies (KCL), no. 2. London: Variorum [=
Ashgate], Aldershot 1993, 1993, xi + 196 pp.
(with J. Kelly and T. Lendari) Concordance to Digenes Version E. Heraklion and
Rethymnon: Crete University Press, 1994, 360 pp.
Articles in journals
'George Seferis: T.S.E. - pages from a diary' [introduction to translation by Rowena
Fowler]. Critical Survey 5/4 (1972) 305-6
'Dionysios Solomos: the tree of poetry.' Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 2
(1976) 161-82
'Modes and roads: factors of change and continuity in Greek musical tradition.'
Annual of the British School at Athens 75 (1980) 1-11
'Was Digenes Akrites an oral poem?' Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 7 (1981)
7-27

'Digenes Akrites and modern Greek folk song: a reassessment.' Byzantion 51 (1981)
22-43
'C.P. Cavafy: irony and Hellenism.' Slavonic and East European Review 59/4 (1981)
516-28
'Realism and folklore in nineteenth-century Greek fiction.' Byzantine and Modern
Greek Studies 8 (1982-3) 103-22
'The poetic quest of George Seferis.' Labrys 8 (1983) 23-34
'The history man,' in C.P. Cavafy: Special Double Issue. Journal of the Hellenic
Diaspora 10 (1983) 23-44
'Against "The Violent Power of Knowledge".' Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora. 10/3
(1983) 59-63 (reply to an article by V. Lambropoulos on Cavafy)
'Myth and text: readings in the modern Greek novel.' Byzantine and Modern Greek
Studies 9 (1984-5) 29-53
'The art of Greek folk music.' Journal of Modern Hellenism 3 (1986) 47-55
'The oral traditions of modern Greece: a survey.' Oral Tradition 1 (1986) 110-33
'Byzantine historiography and modern Greek oral poetry: the case of Rapsomatis.'
Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 10 (1986) 41-50
'The rhetoric of poverty: the lives and opinions of Theodore Prodromos.' Byzantine
and Modern Greek Studies 11 (1987) 1-28
'From mythos to logos: the poetics of George Seferis.' Journal of Modern Greek
Studies 5/2 (1987) 135-52
'Cavafy and Proust.' Grand Street (New York) 6 (1987) 127-41
'Uncertainties on reading Psycharis: narratological and generic problems with My
Journey' [in Greek]. Mandatoforos 28 (1988) 46-52
'The presentation of Modern Greek literature in Great Britain' [in Greek]. Entevkterio
(Thessaloniki) 5 (1988) 79-86
'The sea as metaphorical space in Modern Greek literature.' Journal of Modern Greek
Studies 7 (1989) 253-72
'Courtly romances in Byzantium: a case study in reception'. Mediterranean Historical
Review, 4/2: 345-55.
'The satires of Theodore Prodromos and the beginning of Modern Greek literature' [in
Greek]. Ariadne (Heraklion, Crete) 5 (1989 [appeared 1990]) 207-14
'Greek folk song as literary art' [in Greek]. Diavazo (Athens) (Sept. 1990) 13-14

'Solomos as a Romantic poet: intertextual relations of "The Cretan" and "The Shark"
[in Greek]. Ellinika 40 (1990) 133-47
'Orality and the reception of late Byzantine vernacular literature.' Byzantine and
Modern Greek Studies 14 (1990) 174-84
'Koraes, Toynbee and the Modern Greek heritage,' Byzantine and Modern Greek
Studies 15 (1991) 1-18. Also published as originally given as an Inaugural Lecture in
the Koraes Chair, King's College London, May 1989
'G.M. Vizyenos and European realism' [in Greek]. Diavazo (Athens) 278 (1992) 22-5
'Beyond place and time: out of this world with Andreas Embirikos'. Journal of
Mediterranean Studies (Malta), 2/2 (1992) 256-70
'The "true physiognomy" of Nikos Kazantzakis' [in Greek]. Semeio (Nicosia) 1 (1992
[appeared 1993]) 49-60
'Kalvos as read by Seferis' [in Greek]. Porfyras (Corfu) 64-5 (1993) 303-7
(with E. Calligas) 'Dionysios Solomos addressing the British throne: an unknown text
in English' [in Greek]. Ellinika (1993), 361-3
'"In the Goddess' name I summon you": Byzantine and modern (Greek) fortunes of
the ancient Greek novel.' Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, vol. 21 (1997), 23145
'Writing, identity and truth in Kazantzakis's novel, The Last Temptation.' Kampos
(Cambridge Papers in Modern Greek) vol. 5, 1997, pp. 1-21
'Of Crete and other demons: a reading of Kazantzakis's Freedom and Death'. Journal
of Modern Greek Studies 16 (1998) 195-229
'W(h)ither the Neohellenic?' [Commentary]. Journal of Modern Greek Studies 16/1
(1998) 171-6
'George Seferis: an introduction' [in Greek]. Diavazo 410 [Seferis special issue]
(2000) 96-98
'Reading Seferis's politics and the politics of reading Seferis,' Kampos: Cambridge
Studies in Modern Greek 9 (2001), 1-35
'Seferis and the novel: a reading of Six Nights on the Acropolis.' Byzantine and
Modern Greek Studies 25 (2001), 156-84
'Solomos and the Romantic movement.' Moskhovia: Problemi Byzantiniyskoy i
Novogrecheskoy Filologii 1 (Moscow, 2001), 93-100
'Erotokritos and the history of the novel,' Kampos: Cambridge Studies in Modern
Greek, 12 (2004), 1-25

Minoans in modern Greek literature, in G. Hamilakis and N. Momigliano (eds),

Archaeology and European Modernity: Producing and Consuming the Minoans.
Creta Antica 7 (2006), 183-95
Modern Greek Studies in the United Kingdom: suggestions for the future, Journal of
Modern Greek Studies 24 (2006), 447-53
Articles in books
'Akrites and the critics: literary and editorial problems [in Greek], in Neograeca Medii
Aevi: Text und Ausgabe, Akten zum Symposion Kln 1986 (Cologne 1987), pp. 7584
'The Greek novel in the middle ages', in idem (ed.) The Greek novel, A.D. 1 - 1985.
Croom Helm (London, 1988), pp. 134-43
'"De vulgari eloquentia" in twelfth-century Byzantium,' in J. Howard-Johnston (ed.),
Byzantium and the West, c. 850-c. 1200, Amsterdam, 1988, pp. 261-8
'Introduction', in W. F. Wyatt, Jr. (translator), My Mother's Sin and Other Stories, by
George Vizyenos., University Press of New England, 1988, pp. ix-xv
'Romanticism in Greece', in R. Porter and M. Teich (eds), Romanticism in National
Context , Cambridge University Press, 1988, pp. 92-108
'Modern poietarides and medieval poetry in vernacular Greek,' in Proceedings of the
2nd Cyprological Congress, Vol. 3: Modern Section (Society for Cypriot Studies,
Nicosia (1987 [= 1989]), pp. 485-494
'Greek literature since national independence - a conspectus,' in M. Sarafi (ed.),
Background to Contemporary Greece. Merlin Press (1990), Vol. 1, pp. 1-24
'Ptochoprodromos III: the ethopoeia of the unruly monk' [in Greek], in Mneme S.
Karatza = Epistemonike Epeterida Philosophikes Scholes (University of Thessaloniki
1990 [appeared 1992]), pp. 101-108
Digenes Akrites on the computer: a comparative study of the E and G versions', in
N.M. Panayotakis, (ed.) Origini della Letteratura Neogreca (Venice: Istituto Ellenico)
1993, vol. 2, pp. 42-68
'An epic in the making? The early versions of Digenes Akrites,' in Beaton and Ricks
(eds), Digenes Akrites: new approaches to Byzantine heroic poetry. Publications of
the Centre for Hellenic Studies (KCL), no. 2. (Variorum, Aldershot 1993), pp. 55-72
'Modern Greek and South Slavic oral tradition: specific contrasts and theoretical
implications,' in M. Branch (ed.), The Uses of Tradition. London and Helsinki (1994),
pp. 147-59
'Towards a new approach to the history of Modern Greek literature (19th and 20th
centuries)' [in Greek], in Questions of the History of Modern Greek Literature, in
honour of K.Th. Dimaras (University of Thessaloniki 1994), pp. 51-5

'Epic and romance in the twelfth century,' in A. Littlewood (ed.), Originality in

Byzantine Literature, Art and Music.. Oxford: Oxbow 1995, pp. 81-91
'Oralit e scrittura nel romanzo greco el tardo Medioevo', in A. Pioletti, F. Rizzo Nervo
(eds), Medioevo Romanzo e Orientale: Oralit, Scrittura, Modelli Narrativi
(Rubbettino, Verona/Messina), 1995, pp. 1-9 [offprint]
'The Byzantine revival of the ancient novel', in G. Schmeling (ed.), The Ancient
Novel: A Handbook. Amsterdam: Brill, 1996, pp. 713-733
'Cappadocians at Court: Digenes and Timarion', in Mullett, M. and Smythe, D. (eds).
Alexios I Komnenos. Belfast Byantine Texts and Translations, 1996, vol. 1, pp. 329338
'The Greek ballad "The Bridge of Arta" as myth, in A. Dundes (ed.), The Walled-Up
Wife: A Casebook (University of Wisconsin Press 1996), pp. 63-71 [reprinted from
Folk Poetry of Modern Greece, 1980, q.v.]
'Writing and truth in Kazantzakis' The Last Temptation' [in Greek]. Proceedings of the
Conference "Nikos Kazantzakis: 40 years since his death", Hania, 1-2 November
1997 (Hania, Crete 1998), pp. 239-46
'George Seferis and the use of history: Machairas and Logbook III,' (in Greek), in
Proceedings of the Symposium on Leontios Machairas and Georgios Voustronios,
Nicosia, Cyprus 1996 (A.G. Leventis Foundation, Nicosia 1998), pp. 107-111
'"Our glorious Byzantinism": Papatzonis, Seferis, and the rehabilitation of Byzantium
in postwar Greek poetry,' in D. Ricks and P. Magdalino (eds), Byzantium and the
Modern Greek Identity (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1998), pp. 131-140
'The world of fiction and the world "out there": the case of the Byzantine novel', in D.
Smythe (ed.), Strangers to Themselves: The Byzantine Outsider (Aldershot: Ashgate
2000), pp.179-88
'Tod und Verklrung in Crete: Transformations of a Romantic Theme in Works by N.
Kazantzakis and Y. Yatromanolakis' [in Greek], in Crete and Europe: Comparisons,
Convergences and Divergences in Literature [in Greek] (Heraklion, Crete: Centre for
Cretan Literature, 2001), pp. 175-82
'Seferis and the novel: Six Nights on the Acropolis and the model of Gide,' [in Greek]
in K. Kostiou (ed.), George Seferis as a Reader of European Literature [in Greek]
(Thessaloniki: University Studio Press, 2002), 27-38
'Criticism and philology: approaches to early Modern Greek texts' [in Greek], in
Kaniski: Studi in onore di Giuseppe Spadaro, ed. A. di Benedetto Zimbone and F.
Rizzo Nervo (Rubbettino, 2002), pp. 35-44
Entries on: Greece; Solomos; Kalvos, in Encyclopaedia of the Romantic Era.
Routledge, 2003

La fortune de Dignis Akritis: de l'pope mdivale au symbole du nationalisme

grec, in J. Labarthe-Postel (ed.), Formes modernes de la posie pique: nouvelles
approches (Brussels: Peter Lang, 2003), pp. 23-35
'Balladry in the medieval Greek world,' in Philip Bennett and Richard Green (eds),
The Singer and the Scribe: European Ballad Traditions and European Ballad
Cultures. Series: Internationale Forschung zur Allgemeinen und Vergleichende
Literaturwissenschaft. Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi, 2004, pp. 13-21
'Heroes with political opinions: the Soutsos brothers, the modern Greek novel, and
the newly-formed Greek kingdom,' [in Greek] in G. Georgis and P. Voutouris (eds),
Hellenism in the Nineteenth Century: Ideologies and Aesthetic Quests. Nicosia,
Cyprus (in press)
'"The Epic of the Modern Greeks" and Palamas,' [in Greek] in P. Voutouris (ed.),
Kostis Palamas: Poet and Critic. Nicosia, Cyprus (in press); abridged 'pre-publication'
in Anti 793-4 (July-Sept. 2003), 70-72
'The temptation that never was: Kazantzakis and Borges,' in Darren Middleton (ed.),
Perpetual Incarnation: Reappreciating "The Last Temptation of Christ". New York and
London: T&T Clark International, 2005, pp. 187-207
'George Seferis: an introduction' and 'George Seferis in London: notes towards a
biography', in George Seferis: Centenary Celebrations (The Hellenic Centre/The
South Bank Centre; 15-17 May 2000), 8pp.
'His touch upon the new century' [in Greek], George Seferis: 100 Years From his
Birth (ed. N. Vayenas), Ermis 2000: 13-17 [first published as special issue, Nees
Epoches [section], To Vima, 27 February 2000]
H morfhv tou Domhvnikou Qeotokovpoulou (El Greco) sto evrgo tou Giwvrgou
Sefevrh [El Greco in the work of George Seferis], in Moschos Morfakidis (ed.),
Philopatris: Tomo en honor a Alexis-Eudald Sol (Granada: Centro des Estudios
Bizantinos, Neogriegos y Chipriotas, 2004), pp. 337-45
"A continent as big as China:" Hellenism in the life and work of George Seferis, in
Vassilios Sabatakakis and Peter Vejleskov (eds), Filia: Studies in Honour of BoLennart Eklund. Lund: Pettersson, 2005, pp. 15-26
Fiction
Ariadne's Children. Weidenfeld and Nicolson (London), 372 pp. (Phoenix paperback,
London 1996; New York: St Martin's Press 1997; Copenhagen: Sammleren 1997
[Danish]; Athens: Kastaniotis 1999 [Greek])
Translations
Maro Douka, Fool's Gold [novel, published in Greek 1979]. Kedros, Athens 1991, 312
pp.
Poems by Yannis Kontos and Jenny Mastoraki, translated ('Poems on the DART',
Dublin Area Rapid Transit)

Andreas Embirikos, 'King Kong', in M. Richardson (ed.), The Dedalus Book of

Surrealism, (1993), pp. 102-8
Andreas Embirikos, 'The Road', in M. Richardson (ed.) The Dedalus Book of
Surrealism, vol.2 (1994), pp. 255-7
Dionysios Solomos, 'The Cretan' and 'Carmen Saeculare' in P. Mackridge (ed.): D.
Solomos: The Free Besieged and Other Poems. Shoestring Press, Nottingham 2000,
pp.1-9; 91-3
George Seferis, 'Love's Discourse' [introduction and translation]. Modern Poetry in
Translation 21 (2003), 149-53
REVIEWS in Anglo-Hellenic Review, Journal of Hellenic Studies, Speculum, Ta Nea
(in Greek), TLS.
OBITUARIES, GENERAL-INTEREST ARTICLES. in The Guardian, Ta Nea (in
Greek), TLS