Volume VII - 1953

Author Category Volume Page Year Language Kriaras Ε. PAPERS AND STUDIES 7 298 - 314 1953 Greek Title The popular character of Cretan literature, the literatures of the Renaissance and the Byzantine demotic tradition Summary PDF Sources of works of Cretan literature have been identified in the European - mainly Italian - production of the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. However, the plots drawn from the West were transferred to the Cretan idiom and fertilised by Byzantine demotic tradition. Thus the texts drew away from the refined and aristocratic nature of their sources and took on a popular character. Erotokritos, for instance, despite its French medieval and Italian Renaissance prototype, is imbued with the atmosphere of Late Byzantine romances and other verse works of roughly the same period, while simultaneously approaching the Greek popular cultural world. In the same way, the subject matter, language and world-view of a large section of Cretan literature are inspired by the literary creations of medieval Hellenism.