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In 1999, Christopher Deliso became the first person to graduate with a Distinction (Honours) in the history of Oxford University’s Byzantine Studies MPhil program. The ensuing failure to become a proper Byzantinist, he admits,is thus a small irony of history.
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While he finds history, culture and (usually) foreign places fascinating, and often, even worth writing about, Christopher Deliso feels innately comfortable drifting in the great sea of events, to not take history too seriously. And so he also does not subscribe to Joyce’s Aquarian adage about history as being ‘a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.’
This is not to deny the existence of historical facts, or the value of historical inquiry as a worthwhile pastime. It is just that (at least, in the opinion of Christopher Deliso) philosophical and linguistic limitations preclude the accurate communication, let alone comprehension, of events. At very best, and after the most Sisyphean of labors, any historian can achieve only the crudest and most comic approximation of events; that this was well-known in ancient times has not prevented various moderns (particularly, the French) from intimating original takes on the concept.
As the purpose of this webpage is not to provide a tedious philosophical treatise but to briefly inform of the author’s works, it suffices to leave off at this point and merely point out that following the various drop-down menus and occasionally added posts will allow readers to enjoy Christopher Deliso’s articles and books on historical & cultural topics.
It can be expected that, given his academic and experiential background, the topics of coverage will include (but are not limited to): Greece, Turkey, and the Balkans, from ancient to Byzantine, Ottoman and modern times; literature, and particularly modern Irish and English literature, but with some others likely at some point; philosophical and theological topics; and music, current events and general reflections on the arts, society and persons and phenomena that the author finds noteworthy.
Some History & Culture Articles by Christopher Deliso
“Is It Time To Remember Bandon Author Who Wrote 300 Books?” The Southern Star (Skibbereen, Co. Cork, Ireland), 12 March 2023
-In this magazine feature, Christopher Deliso discusses the murky legacy of the former UDBA- one of the Cold War’s major security agencies, and the one responsible for carrying out numerous murders against enemies and perceived enemies of Tito’s communist regime in the Yugoslav diaspora, from America to Western Europe to Australia.
-A culturally rich city still brimming over with historic attractions, Veliko Tarnovo was a key center of medieval political and artistic life. In this article, Christopher Deliso explores some of the city’s most fascinating historical moments.
-In this 2011 article published in Greek in the leading Athenian daily Kathimerini, Christopher Deliso discusses some of the key challenges facing the Greek tourism and cultural offer, and some of the proactive steps being taken in different parts of the country to diversify and attract new market segments, for example, by renovating and promoting the Ottoman heritage sites of Thessaloniki.