INTERCONNECTIONS BETWEEN URBAN RESIDENTIAL PLACES AND THEIR RESIDENTS IN THE PROSE OF GREEK POST-WAR NOVELIST ANDREAS FRANGIAS

Abstract

Andreas Frangias is one of the most important Greek post-war writers. He published four novels that cover the second half of the 20 th century. Three of the four novels take place in the urban surrounding of a big city that could be any European city of the same period, which makes them and their messages universal. The aim of this paper is to examine if and in what way the cities and the houses influence their inhabitants and if and how the inhabitants influence the houses. These interconnections obviously occupied the attention of Frangias, since even the titles of the first two novels announce them. We will examine the condition of people and their houses, as well as the whole city in three important after-war periods for Greece – immediately after WWII, after the civil war of 1945-49 and in the ’80s, when the whole society was already overwhelmed with a consumerist mentality and strongly controlled by the invisible authority. It is of our interest to find out which influences are stronger and more evident. Do the psychological and emotional condition and the economical situation of the inhabitants influence their surroundings, do their surroundings influence them or are both of these true? Are these influences the same in each period? What are the messages or perhaps warnings that Frangias might have wanted to pass on to us through these interconnections?