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Unmaking history: postmodernist technique and national identity in the contemporary greek novel

Katsan, Gerasimus Michael
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1062992115

Abstract Details

2003, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Interdisciplinary Programs.
As an aesthetic movement, postmodernism is selectively adopted and adapted by writers outside the mainstream of the West. This study investigates the ways that Greek authors have incorporated postmodernist literary techniques after the fall of the Junta in 1974, particularly within the mode of historiographic metafiction. Postmodernism is seen as a global phenomenon, and the implications of the mixing of “globalized” postmodernist culture with local cultures are considered. The mode of historiographic metafiction supplies a framework for an investigation of larger postmodernist concerns such as the crisis of representation, the unreliability of language, the undecidability of meaning, and the fragmentary nature of knowledge that is unavoidably mediated by narrative constructions. In the case of Greece, due to the prevalence of the nationalist modernism of the Generation of the Thirties, postmodernists have maintained a fascination with the notion of national identity. These authors have used postmodernist techniques to critique the modernist ideology of national identity while reflecting upon more general postmodernist aesthetic, socio-economic and historical issues. Because of the persistence of national identity in these writings, postmodernist texts in Greece can be seen as “national allegories.” The use of historiographic metafiction by authors such as Ares Alexandrou, Rhea Galanaki and Vassilis Gouroyiannis shows a clear departure from the notions of Greek national identity formulated by earlier writers and intellectuals and streamlined by official institutions, towards conceptions of identity as decentered, multivocal and inclusive. The comparison of these authors to writers from other national traditions such as Salman Rushdie, Manuel Puig, Angela Carter and Orhan Pamuk, broadens conceptions of historiographic metafiction and explores the themes of ideology and national identity in conjunction with the problematics of history.
James Phelan (Advisor)
188 p.
Literature, Comparative
Postmodernism; Modern Greek Literature; Contemporary Novel; Metafiction; Nationalism; National Identity

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Katsan, G. M. (2003). Unmaking history: postmodernist technique and national identity in the contemporary greek novel [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1062992115

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Katsan, Gerasimus. Unmaking history: postmodernist technique and national identity in the contemporary greek novel. 2003. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1062992115.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Katsan, Gerasimus. "Unmaking history: postmodernist technique and national identity in the contemporary greek novel." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2003. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1062992115

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1062992115
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© 2003, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.