Minor Field, Major Territories: Dilemmas in Modernizing Hellenism

Minor Field, Major Territories: Dilemmas in Modernizing Hellenism Artemis Leontis Questions of Modernization and Legitimation When the Greek critic and author Yiorgos Theotokas set out in 1929 to consider the cultural potential of modern Hellenism, he undertook to chart from his "airborne" perspective the position and expanse of Greek in relation to contemporary European traditions. He thought that it would be especially fruitful to make comparative judgments regarding a social and political body whose situation was becoming all the more dependent on prevailing trends from the West. For he did not see the dilemma of modern Greeks as a choice between local color and western sophistication, faith and nihilism, tradition and modernization. The decision to enter the auspicious wasteland of modernity had been made of itself in the course of events following the Great War which had remapped the western landscape. Its aftermath for Greece had been cataclysmic: "Suddenly, from one day to the next, we found ourselves in the confusion of the modern world, beaten by the great winds of post-war Europe" (1988: 61). The question now was not whether, but how to open up the cultural boundaries of a "small and narrow-minded, self-absorbed provincial community," which was of itself making unmanagable strides to keep up with modern developments (εξÎ-λιξη του τόπου, 61). At issue was the modernization of Hellenism. Theotokas' liberal manifesto of free thinking, Ελεϕ θεϕ ο Πνεϕ μα, was addressed to producers of a minor national culture seeking to gain international recognition. When his literary circle of "broken, withered, and lost" fellow travelers (1988: 63), the so-called "Generation of the 1930s," succeeded in crossing the boundaries of parochialism and bringing Greece culturally into an interesting if oblique Journal of Modern Greek Studies, Volume 8, 1990. 35 36 Artemis Leontis alignment with the modern western world, some won broad acclaim. Critics took an analogous step when they asked, as Zesimos Lorentzatos did, "what can be the significance of Solomos—or Calvos and Cavafy for that matter—for foreign literature and thought" (1980a: 18). Focusing on valued individual authors or works, they highlighted universal themes—for example, "an indefinite tone of spiritual anguish, a sense of catastrophe harking back to some lost paradise" (1980a: 19)—which were conceived at the same time as uniquely Greek in their manner of expression. Thus, intellectual modernization in the work of D. Kapetanakis, A. Karandonis, L. Politis, G. Seferis, I. Sykoutris , V. Sarandaris, and D. Nikolareizis took the form of a modernistically aestheticized Hellenism. The strength and success of this trend in Greece was such that it influenced directly Greek criticism on all levels, ranging from the journalistic to the academic. As scholars began to develop a field of modern Greek literary criticism, this particular model of intellectual modernization presented itself quite naturally as a critical paradigm. It was as if the academic field faced a dilemma similar to that of authors and public intellectuals in Greece concerning its "significance" in relation to "foreign" disciplines, and decided to solve it in the same way. A few decades later, modern Greek literary studies made its way into American universities by embracing this successful paradigm. Its principle scholarly task was to illuminate the relationship between individual modern Greek authors and their esteemed ancient precursors, or prove the relevance and competence of Greek authors compared with canonical modern English, French, German, or North American figures. A professional structure was raised to bring about institutional recognition of its academic activities. Yet the residence of modern Greek studies within North American universities remained unresolved . First, the institutional partnership of language and literature programs with esteemed disciplines such as classical studies served to reinforce the dependent standing of modern Greek. Second, the scholarly effort to trace the influence of classical, European or North American authors on individual Greek writers confirmed the derivative status of the Greek works. The time has come, therefore, to change angles. As academics housed in North American universities, we need to take into account transformations in the shape and expanse of our powerful hosts, which follow from recent institutional and epistemological developments. One finds several crucial shifts. The search for universals has been largely discredited and replaced by descriptions of local specifity; interest in great male, Anglo-American...