Christos Christovasilis ( el, Χρήστος Χρηστοβασίλης; c. 12 March 1861 – 26 August 1937) was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

journalist and author, representative of Greek

pastoral A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depicts ...

literature. He was a collector of rural and folk material and one of the most important figures in the literature of

Epirus sq, Epiri rup, Epiru , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Historical region , image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg , map_alt = , map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinrich ...

in late 19th-early 20th century.

Life

Christovasilis was born in the village of Soulopoulo,

Zitsa Zitsa ( el, Ζίτσα) is a village and a municipality in the Ioannina regional unit, Epirus, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the village Eleousa. The municipality has an area of 565.566 km2, the municipal unit 65.868 km2, the c ...

Epirus sq, Epiri rup, Epiru , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Historical region , image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg , map_alt = , map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinrich ...

, then in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. As a teenager he ran away from school in order to join the Epirus revolt of 1878, and participated in the guerilla operations near

Sarandë Sarandë (; sq-definite, Saranda; el, Άγιοι Σαράντα, Ágioi Saránta) is a city in the Republic of Albania and seat of Sarandë Municipality. Geographically, the city is located on an open sea gulf of the Ionian Sea within the Medit ...

.Χρήστος Χρηστοβασίλης
. National Book Centre of Greece. Greek Ministry of Culture. (Greek) As a result, he was twice arrested by the Ottoman authorities and sentenced to death, but he managed to escape. In 1885 he moved to

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, where he studied, compiled and published several works on Greek history.Merry p. 72 In December 1889 he won the literary competition of the Athenian newspaper ''Acropolis'', with his countryside tale ''Pastoral new year''. He subsequently decided to devote himself to journalism and literature. When the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defe ...

(1912–1913) ended and most of Epirus became part of Greece, he moved to Ioannina and published a newspaper named Ελευθερία ("Freedom"). In 1924, he became a member of the administrative committee of the ''Educational Club'' (Εκπαιδευτικός Όμιλος) of Ioannina. together with other prominent figures of Epirus, such as

Georgios Hatzis Georgios Hatzis ( el, Γεώργιος Χατζής; 1881–1930), also known under the pen name Pelleren, was a Greek author and journalist. Hatzis was born in Ioannina, northwestern Greece, when the city was still part of the Janina Vilayet ...

. Additionally, in 1936 he published the cultural magazine ''Epirote Leaves''. Christovasilis was twice elected as a member of the

Greek Parliament The Hellenic Parliament ( el, Ελληνικό Κοινοβούλιο, Elliniko Kinovoulio; formally titled el, Βουλή των Ελλήνων, Voulí ton Ellínon, Boule of the Hellenes, label=none), also known as the Parliament of the Hel ...

, in

1926 Events January * January 3 – Theodoros Pangalos declares himself dictator in Greece. * January 8 **Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud is crowned King of Hejaz. ** Crown Prince Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thuy ascends the throne, the last monarch of V ...

and

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude Franco-Italian Agreement of 1935, an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * ...

Work

Christovasilis was a collector of rural and folk material and one of the main representatives of Greek

literature of that era. He wrote his works in the

Demotic Demotic may refer to: * Demotic Greek, the modern vernacular form of the Greek language * Demotic (Egyptian), an ancient Egyptian script and version of the language * Chữ Nôm, the demotic script for writing Vietnamese See also * * Demos (disa ...

(vernacular) language, which he called "

koine Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

of the future". His work was inspired by high degree of

patriotism Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and sense of attachment to one's country. This attachment can be a combination of many different feelings, language relating to one's own homeland, including ethnic, cultural, political or histor ...

aimed against Ottoman rule. Christovassilis best prose is gathered in the ''Stories of Exile'' (1889) and in ''Stories from the Stockyard'' (1898), a compilation of eleven stories inspired from his rural childhood. Additionally, in 1901 he published the ''Tales of the Mountain and the Valley'', which earned him another literary prize, promulgated by the supporter of the Demotic language,

Ioannis Psycharis Ioannis (Yiannis) Psycharis (Greek: Ιωάννης (Γιάννης) Ψυχάρης; French: ''Jean Psychari''; 1854–1929) was a French philologist of Greek origin, author and promoter of Demotic Greek. Biography Psycharis was born on 15 May ...

References

* *

External links

* *
Works of Christos Christovasilis
openarhives.gr
Works of Christos Christovasilis
el.wikisource.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Christovasilis, Christos 1860s births 1937 deaths People from Zitsa Greeks from the Ottoman Empire Emigrants from the Ottoman Empire to Greece Greek MPs 1926–1928 Greek MPs 1935–1936 Greek novelists Greek journalists 19th-century Greek writers 19th-century male writers