Director of International Relations for the Messolonghi Byron Research Center
Professor Peter W. Graham, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
As Director of International Relations for the Messolonghi Byron Research Center, I’d like to welcome you to the site itself, its growing collection of research materials, and its varied range of programs and conferences. Envisioned by Messolonghiots and chiefly made possible by a collaboration of local, regional, and national efforts, the Center is supported and enhanced by the generosity of a truly international community of Byronists, Romanticists, and Philhellenists. The Messolonghi Byron Research Center extends a warm invitation to everyone who might like to consult its books, view its prints and other artifacts, or simply learn more about Byron, his circle, or the Greek War of Independence here in the town where Byron died, a historic place made sacred by the Exodos of 1826, when the besieged citizens of Messolonghi heroically sacrificed their lives in the cause of freedom.
Director of Hellenic Studies, for the Messolonghi Byron Research Center
Roderick Beaton, Koraes Professor of Modern Greek & Byzantine History, Language & Literature, King’s College London
Research interests
● ‘Historical poetics’ of the novel from ancient to modern times
● Greek national identity in the nineteenth century
● Byron and the Greek Revolution
Biography
Roderick Beaton graduated from Cambridge with a first degree in English Literature and a PhD in Modern Greek. He came to King’s in 1981 as Lecturer in Modern Greek Language and Literature, and in 1988 was appointed to the Koraes Chair. He has several times served as Head of Department and has been actively involved with the Centre for Hellenic Studies since its establishment in 1989 and in the Comparative Literature programme.
From October 2009 to September 2012 he has been appointed to a Major Leverhulme Fellowship, to work on a project entitled Byron’s War: The Greek Revolution and the English Romantic Imagination.
Consultant Librarian for the Messolonghi Byron Research Center
Mr. David McClay, Senior Curator, John Murray Archive, National Library of Scotland.
Research Center
The Messolonghi Byron Research Center is a library dedicated to the scholarship of Lord Byron and other Romantic Era poets. The center has a growing library of 2000 books in English and Greek, devoted to critical theory, letters, poetry, and many other textual sources. Scholars, students, and enthusiasts are encouraged to use the extensive resources of the library while visiting the historical places of Lord Byron’s last days. Messolonghi, Greece is a convenient three hour bus trip from Athens, Greece. This includes a scenic trip on the Peloponnesian peninsula and the new suspension bridge “Harilaos Trikoupis” connecting Rio and Antirio. The area is rich with historic and academic treasures and is a wonderful place to study Byron and Greece.
If you are a scholar or a student and you would like to use the Messolonghi Byron Research Center, please contact Rodanthi-Rosa Florou for details on available resources and arranging a visit. Please visit this website again to see developments regarding the Messolonghi Electronic Library and Digital Archive Project, or M.E.L., an on-line source for textual and digital materials devoted to early nineteenth century critical theory on Lord Byron and other Romantic Era poets.
