Eleftheria Arapoglou
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki,
Greece
I am extremely grateful to the Friends of the Princeton
University Library and the Program in Hellenic Studies who, by awarding me a
generous Research Fellowship in August 2005, allowed me the opportunity to
conduct original research into the work of the author Demetra Vaka Brown, using
the Rare Books and Special Collections of the Princeton University Library.
More specifically, my study of the Atlantis Collection, the Diamantides
Collection, and the Collection of Modern Greek Pamphlets, Ephemera, and
Clippings on Greece and Southeastern Europe shed light on important aspects of
the life and work of Vaka Brown that had raised vexed questions prior to my visit
to Princeton.
Demetra Vaka Brown (Prinkipo1877-Chicago 1946) belonged to
the cosmopolitan middle class of Istanbul and was one of the first Greek
immigrant women who joined American mainstream culture and society. After her
wedding to author Kenneth Brown, she worked for the American Press and was
eventually considered an authority on the subjects of oriental women and also
on the Eastern Question. She worked as a journalist and foreign correspondent
in the U.S.A. and the Balkans, especially in Ottoman Turkey. Her 14 books were
in print until the 1930’s and were translated into several European languages.
Unfortunately, the fact that Vaka Brown’s books are today out of print had thus
far posed serious obstacles to my research. However, consulting the entire
written corpus of Vaka Brown held by the Princeton University Library and
framing it within the context of significant historical publications of the
time has proved invaluable to my research.
My goal while at Princeton was to read Vaka Brown’s texts by
foregrounding historical context in order to make a case for the author’s
positioning with respect to nationalist and imperialist practices. Hence, my research
using the Rare Books and Special Collections evolved along two axes. Firstly,
I focused on two works by Vaka Brown: her travel narrative entitled The
Heart of the Balkans (1917) and the political testimony In the Heart of
German Intrigue (1918). More specifically, upon consulting the Ephemera
collection, I came to view the two texts as 'cultural narratives' with a
specific ideological function in the construction of a modern Greek
nation-state and national identity. As my use of the above-mentioned Princeton
University Library collection indicated, the author’s specific works yield crucial
insights into modern Greek nationalism as a territorial ideology that
implicates the modern Greek and Turkish nation states as well as the countries
in the Balkan region. Indeed, contextualizing Vaka’s writing within other publications
of the time that also addressed the Balkan question problematizes the specific
political and cultural contexts and contingencies within which practices such
as geography, folklore, and travel literature develop.
Secondly, I turned my attention to Demetra Vaka Brown’s
novels that deal with life in the Orient, such as Haremlik (1909) and Unveiled
Ladies of Stamboul (1923). My study of the historical records, newspapers,
magazines, pamphlets, newsletters, and other ephemera on the
turn-of-the-century period during which Vaka Brown was working as a U.S.
correspondent in the East has allowed me to address controversial questions
that relate to the conflicted nature of the author’s allegiances. Of note, I
have been able to probe the alternative responses Vaka Brown’s narratives offer
to the 'scaffoldings' of nationalism and cultural hegemony, as the Princeton
University Library holdings in question facilitated my articulation of a
nuanced historical and cultural reading of the author’s texts. Ultimately, I
believe that my investigation into the way in which Vaka Brown represents the
East problematizes the canonical stereotypes of Western 'Oriental' literature
and reframes the historical tensions between the culture of the West and that of
the East.
Two articles which are currently in progress -- one on Vaka’s
'nationalist' project as this is manifested in The Heart of the Balkans
and In the Heart of German Intrigue, and another on Vaka’s 'harem novels'
as illustrations of female imperial positionings -- have evolved out of my
research at Princeton. Subsequently, I plan to submit one of them to the Journal
of Modern Greek Studies.
Closing, I wish to repeat my deep gratitude to the Friends
of the Princeton University Library and the Program in Hellenic Studies,
without whose support and assistance I would not have been able to consult Princeton
University Library’s Special Collections -- a unique resource that allowed me to
place Vaka Brown’s oeuvre in a rich, historically and culturally informed,
context.
libraryf@princeton.edu
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