Greece Literature: the Twentieth Century, Social Commitment and Experimentalism

By | August 10, 2021

After an eventful historical period characterized by a succession of military conflicts (Balkan wars, World War I) we are witnessing a general crisis of traditional values ​​within Greek society, a crisis from which not even the literati are able to escape. An attitude of mistrust towards life and a feeling of helplessness with respect to the great problems of the time spread. The poetry of this first post-war period is tinged with symbolist, hermetic and surrealist colors and repudiates any kind of metric constraint such as rhyme; the themes are those related to individual existence. There are those who express their mood through sarcasm, such as K. Kariotákis (1896-1928), and those looking for some certainty in religiosity, such as T. Papatsonis (1895-1976); those who abandon themselves to suggestion and pessimism, such as T. Agras (1899-1944), those who let themselves be taken by their existential problems, such as G. Sarandaris (1908-41); or, again, those who succumb in a world of contradictions and rapid changes, like M. Poliduri (1902-30). Also in the prose there is a certain renewal in the themes and the war atmosphere strongly permeates the literary production of the writers of the 1920s. In the following decade, the narrative production was marked by the dictatorship of Metaxàs and the resulting limitations of expression. Among the most relevant characters of this generation we remember: K. Polítis (1888-1974), writer with a lively and sensitive style and multiple contents; G. Theotokás (1906-66); A. Tertzakis (1907-79), author of works in which he denounces the crisis of the bourgeois family; Th. Kastanákis (1901-67); M. Karagátsis (1908-60), author of Freudian- inspired novels; P. Prevelákis (1909-86); GM Panajotòpulos (1901-82), distinguished literary critic and poet, as well as narrator; S. Mirivílis (1892-1969), author of war stories and daily dramas expressed in a rich and lively language; I. Venezís (1904-73) and finally M. Ludémis (1912-77), auroras of autobiographical works in which he testifies to the experiences of prison and confinement. In the context of poetry, various characters with a high poetic stature and a marked tendency towards experimentation appear on the literary scene, remembered as “the generation of the Thirties”. Their appearance is also due to the periodical Ta nea grammata, founded in 1935 by A. Karandónis (1910-82) and G. Katsímbalis (1899-1978), which hosted on its pages the early productions of these poets of now European fame.. It is G. Seféris (1900-71), Nobel laureate in 1963, who was influenced by TS Eliot; I. Ritsos (1909-90), a deep admirer of Mayakovsky, whose poems represent his contribution to the solution of the problem of the historical identity of the Greek people. According to aristmarketing, influences of the war can also be found in the lyrics of O. Elitis (1911-96), Nobel laureate in 1979, who contributed to the spread of surrealism in Greece together with A. Embirìkos (1901-75) and N. Engonòpulos (1910-85)). Among the exponents of Greek surrealism we still remember N. Vrettakos (1911-91), N. Gátsos (1915), M. Sachturis (b. 1919) and N. Karúzos (1926-90). Some poets of the so-called Thessaloniki school belong to the same period, among which we mention the most important: G. Vafòpulos (b.1904), T. Varvitsiotis (b.1916), G. Thémelis (1900-76) and G. Ioannu (1927-85). In the panorama of modern poetry the avant-garde figures of some artists stand out, attempting a renewal of forms and themes not without a certain non-conformism; it is N. Kavadias (1913-75) who refers to the cosmopolitanism of Uranis; M. Dimakis (1917-80), exponent of the so-called lyric realism; R. Bumi-Papà (1906-84), politically committed poet, collaborator of the left-wing magazine Elèfthera grammata (1945-50). Furthermore, we recall three poets who share an interest in social problems and the rejection of bourgeois society in the name of a not entirely orthodox Marxism: A. Alexandru (1922-78), T. Patríkios (b.1928) and M. Anagnostakis (b. 1925-2005). From the second post-war period onwards, the role of prose was considerably strengthened by continuing in the realism and political-social themes. Historical events, including the dictatorship of the colonels (1967-74) and the Turkish occupation of Cyprus (1974), have often been the starting point for the birth of novels characterized by a clear ideological commitment; but it is war, in particular civil war, the theme that marked a large part of literary production in the thirty years following the Second World War: we find it in A. Kotziás (1926-92), N. Kàsdaglis (n.1928), Renos Apostolidis (b.1924). M. Chakkas (1931-72), S. Tsirkas (1911-81), V. Vasilikós (b.1933), K. Mitropùlu (b. 1935). During the dictatorship of the colonels some writers fled abroad, others like S. Plaskovítis (b. 1917) were arrested, many remained at home. Defined as the “generation of the seventies” they translated contempt towards the established power and society in their works. After the end of the dictatorship, many of the works whose gestation had taken place during the regime were published; these works, both poetic and narrative, are mutually accumanated by the centrality given to the theme of the contestation; but while in the poets, including Tzeni Mastoraki (b.1949) and Lefteris Pulios (b.1944), once the revolutionary age is over, there is a general tendency to withdraw from the public scene to concentrate one’s reflections on a more individule; the narrators, on the contrary, remain tied to the themes of the protest, in the wake of the only episode of ’68 in Greece: the three-day occupation of the Athens Polytechnic (1973). Linked to these themes are the literary beginnings of authors such as M. Dhuka (b. 1947) and M. Karapanu (b. 1946). In the last decade of the twentieth century. a large group of writers fought over an ever-expanding publishing market, the authors born in the 40s were joined by younger writers, many included in the anthology of narrators and poets published in 1986, whose title in Italian is Scripture 1984 -85. Among the poets we remember Sakis Serefas (b. 1960), while among the authors of the most successful novels we find: Ersi Sotiropulu (b. 1953) and Apòstolos Dhoxiadhis (b. 1953). a large group of writers fought over an ever-expanding publishing market, the authors born in the 40s were joined by younger writers, many included in the anthology of narrators and poets published in 1986, whose title in Italian is Scripture 1984 -85. Among the poets we remember Sakis Serefas (b. 1960), while among the authors of the most successful novels we find: Ersi Sotiropulu (b. 1953) and Apòstolos Dhoxiadhis (b. 1953). a large group of writers fought over an ever-expanding publishing market, the authors born in the 40s were joined by younger writers, many included in the anthology of narrators and poets published in 1986, whose title in Italian is Scripture 1984 -85. Among the poets we remember Sakis Serefas (b. 1960), while among the authors of the most successful novels we find: Ersi Sotiropulu (b. 1953) and Apòstolos Dhoxiadhis (b. 1953).

Greece Literature - the Twentieth Century, Social Commitment and Experimentalism