Subversive literary representations of 1821 in the Metapolitefsi (1974–81)

Abstract

The article examines the afterlife of the Greek War of Independence during the Transition period in Greece (1974–81), focusing on literature. The military dictatorship (1967–74) presented itself as the heir of this national revolution. Representations of the 1821 were popularized and mediatized through film, paintings and the public spectacles organized by the regime, culminating in the 150-year anniversary in 1971. This triggered an alternative use of these representations, by songwriters, playwrights and writers who aimed to subvert them through mimicry. Focusing on three novels by young writers of the period, Yoryis Yatromanolakis’s Leimonario (The Spiritual Meadow) (1974), Nikos Platis’s Gkount mpai mister pap (‘Goodbye Mr. Pap’) (1976) and Takis Theodoropoulos’s Ο vios stin politeia tou Thodori Kotronithodorikolou (‘Life in the times of Thodoris Kotronithodorikolos’) (1977), the article examines how these young writers subverted the representations of heroism constructed by the dictatorship through the use of surrealist and avant-garde techniques. The use of pastiche, the corporeal and the fantastic by Yatromanolakis creates an alternative discourse of heroism. In the case of Platis and Theodoropoulos, surrealist techniques, and images of transgressive sexuality create a grotesque gallery of heroes, by emphasizing the hybridity and performativity of their identities. These writers also experimented with the ways in which history is represented in narrative, through reversal of temporality, the nightmarish, corporeality and the private. The article also examines the texts’ reception, at a time when new grand narratives of national history were being shaped.