ENGLISH LITERATURE IN ATHENS
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
Sra,—On April 14th the University of Athens will celebrate the centenary of its foundation, and invitations have been sent to universities and other learned bodies to send repre- sentatives to this important festival. Would not this be the appropriate moment for the foundation of the much-talked-of but long-deferred professorship of contemporary English literature there ? France, Germany and Italy have long had similar Chairs ; the land of Byron and Gladstone is alone absent from Athenian university life. When the present university building was erected in 1839-41, Prince Milosh Obrenovich of Serbia was among the subscribers. Would it be too much to ask Great Britain to imitate little Serbia and make a beau geste to Athens University, especially at a time when German is rapidly supplanting English at Athens 'I
Previous page
