An Introduction to Modern Greek Literature

This introduction to the poetry and fiction published in Greek since national independence in 1821 is devoted to the literature of this period seen as a whole, and includes developments up to the present day. No knowledge of Greek is assumed.

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This introduction to the poetry and fiction published in Greek since national independence in 1821 is the first full-length study to be devoted to the literature of this period seen as a whole, and includes developments up to the present day. The book highlights those writers and works which have enjoyed critical or popular acclaim, and emphasizes the relationships which link one work with another and with its historical context. It moves from the varying responses to European Romanticism which defined Greek literature in the 19th century, culminating in the work of Palamas, Kazantzakis and Cavafy in the first decades of this century, to the modernist-influenced work of the years from the 1920 to 1945. A post-war reaction against modernism was followed by growing experimentation, and the book deals in detail with this most productive of periods in modern Greek literature. No knowledge of Greek is assumed and all quotations are given in both Greek and English. Roderick Beaton is the author of "The Medieval Greek Romance", and editor of "The Greek Novel AD 1-1985".