In the first decades of the 20th century, at the same time with the zenith of the old poetry tradition, mainly represented by the poetic work of Palamas and his generation, new authors that break traditional rules and renew poetry make their appearance. These poets do not present any similarities and do not form part of a separate school; each one is an individual case. However, as Kostas Stergiopoulos notes they do have a few common characteristics: “Ancient Greek aestheticism and adoration of ancient Greek culture will evolve into fruitful exploitation of their knowledge of ancient times and into a parallel turn towards – except for Kazantzakis – Solomos and modern Greek sources. They all borrow their central topics or motifs from antiquity. They are characterized by a movement towards composition, a widespread vision and a global approach of life, expressed by the perception and realizsation of ambituous synthetic works (Απολλώνιος by Melahrinos, Αλαφροΐσκιωτος by Sikelianos, Το φως που καίει και Σκλάβοι πολιορκημένοι by Varnali, Οδύσσεια by Kazantzakis). Another typical feature in most of the authors of this time is the social aspects introduced later in their works”.
Many contributed in renewing poetry in the advent of 20th century, such as Apostolos Melahrinos, Angelos Sikelianos, Markos Avgeris, Kostas Varnalis and others. The poetic orientation of the latter is divided into two periods: before 1922, where he is obviously influenced by Parnassism, and after 1922, where his poetry is influenced by the political ideology of Marxism.
A completely separate case is that of the Alexandrian poet Konstandinos Kavafis, who could be classified in the previous generation as well, from a time point of view. Living in Alexandria, away from Athens and the influence of its poetic circles, he creates a completely personal style. His poetry is bare from traditional lyrical schemes and often extends to prose-like writing. The thoughtfulness and depth of meanings in his poetry, in combination with the extremely well targeted language, create a particularly high rank poetry, which, though not recognized by the critics of its time at the beginning, later stood forward and was positioned at the appropriate place.
Parallel to the aforementioned poets, a new generation of poets appears and it presents a different poetic tone: Romas Filiras, Napoleon Lapathiotes, Kostas Uranis and later Kleon Paraschos, Telos Agras, Mitsos Papanicolaou, Kostas Karyotakis and others “Make” as notes Kostas Stergiopoulos “a decisive turn in our poetic tradition and become vehicles of a new sensitivity”.
The poets of the period between the wars, do not present a full homogeneity among them, however we could say that they create a new trend, new romanticism and new symbolism and the changes they bring about, by mixing metres and rhythms, agitate the orthodoxy of tradition, thus preparing the ground for the new trends. When they lived and wrote, tragic political events took place in Greece that affect Greeks, such as the Asia Minor Disaster, and were imprinted on intellectuals as well. The farewell to the Great Idea, the waves of refugees that followed and the difficult social and political conditions of the times deeply affected the work of the poets of this generation. Their poetic work is marked by emotional weariness and difficulty to adopt to the realities of life. They express, to a greater or a lesser degree, the feeling of lack of satisfaction and decadence, which often reveals a tendency to self-destruction. With a few exceptions, pessimism and an anti-heroic spirit are the hallmarks of their poetry. Costas Karyotakis is the most typical expression of this, with many other poets adopting his stance of so-called 'Karyotacism'. Such poets include Maria Polydouri, Mitsos Papanikolaou, Tellos Agras.
In the second decade of the period between the wars and onwards poetry makes the most decisive turn towards renewal. Critics named the poetry of this period new or modern poetry. Writers abandon traditional poetical features, both internal and external (rhyme, poetic metres, cohesion of meaning etc), for the sake of new expressive means (free verse, associations etc). Two currents contributed significantly in this: the current of surrealism that appeared in France in 1924 with the declaration of its founder Andre Breton and the current of symbolism that had made its appearance in Europe a few decades earlier.
Surrealism was the avant-garde movement of the time, and soon its influence spread to other forms of art besides literature. Surrealism aimed at transcending the real world by recording in poetry subconscious actions of the soul and impressions left by dreams, without reason intervening. A secondary aim was the renewal of all moral values, philosophy and science. Surrealists, who were deeply influenced by psychoanalysis, believed that the artist should not stay confined in the reality of everyday life, but to use imagination, luck and the subconscious to be able to attain a sur-reality. The most important Surrealist poets of Greek literature are Andreas Embeirikos and Nikos Engonopoulos, while many other younger poets were also influenced.
The main figure expressing this renewal in poetry at that time was George Seferis, who made his appearance in 1931 with the poetic collection Στροφή; the majority of the poems of this collection integrate poetry and pure poetry. With Στροφή Seferis became the pioneer of a new kind of poetry that expressed the new currents and developments in European lyrical speech. The contribution of Odysseas Elytis was also significant in renewing poetry, mainly in terms of themes; his work, as opposed to that of Karyotakis, expresses optimism and love for life.
Takis Papatsonis’ course is also remarkable and rather different; his works being notable for the profound religious faith displayed and for his faith in the higher values of life. Melisende poetry is in the same vein as that of Papatsonis, displaying intense religious experiences and agony over the fate of human existence. The work of other poets is also about renewal, including Giannis Ritsos, Nikos Kavadias, Nikiforos Vretakos, Nikos Gatsos and others.
With regard to prose, apart from descriptions of local customs, already examined in the previous section, the social novel also develops later on; it is mainly represented by Konstandinos Hatzopoulos and Konstandinos Theotokis. Both of them spent time in Germany where they became familiar and adopted socialistic ideology, which influenced their work deeply. “Helleno-centric” writers such as Pericles Giannopoulos, Ion Dragoumis, Pinelopi Delta and Nikos Kazantzakis follow a different direction.
Following the Asia Minor Disaster (1922) and the end of World War II (1945) the novel is developed, the most modern device of prose. The Asia Minor Disaster and the Exchange of Populations that followed had a great impact on the authors of this generation while it influenced intellectual, political and social life in Greece in the years that followed. Critics came up with the name 'the Thirties Generation' for the authors of the time, who express the failure of those hopes of previous generations associated with irredentism and the reestablishment of Greek rule within the confines of the old Byzantine empire (the Great Idea, 'Megali Idea'), while simultaneously also expressing a new maturity. The prose authors of this generation focus on newer ways at seeing things, by aiming to identify more complex psychological conditions and to address more serious social and human ills, while expanding their horizons beyond national borders. During this time prose writing depicts the birth of a new era: Political and social conflicts, the emergence of bourgeoisie, the new pursuits of man. These pursuits will generate the urban, historical and modern novel.
We can distinguish two broad trends as regards form: realism, which stands for continuity and renewal of tradition, and which is prevalent in authors from Athens (Stratis Myriviles, Cosmas Polites, Elias Venezes, George Theotokas, Angelos Terzakis) and modernism, which mainly expresses the new European trends and is mostly prevalent in the prose authors from Salonica. Modernistic prose, that made its appearance rather late in Greece, deviates from the traditional forms of realistic prose and stands out for the open and free plot. Modernistic novel in particular is now giving priority to the inner world and the subjectivity of the person rather than the external and social reality. The internal monologue, free associations and introspection are mainly developed, while psychological analysis and meditation come first before depicting external reality.
The team of the journal Μακεδονικές ημέρες published in Thessalonica by Stelios Xefloudas, Giorgos Delios, Alkiviadis Giannopoulos, Giorgos Vafopoulos, Nicos Gavriel Penztikis and other prose writers, including Giannis Scaribas, Melpo Axioti, Giannis Beratis, translate avant-garde works by European writers (Virginia Wolf, Tomas Man, James Joyce and others) and adopt techniques opposing realism techniques. They develop inner monologue and the stream of consciousness. Inner monologue is a new genre of narrative, introduced by Edward Dezarden, and aiming at bringing to light the ceaseless stream of thoughts, images, memories, and associations crossing the mind of the hero. Through inner monologue, the prose writer tries to introduce us to the inner life of the hero, as if there were no intervention at all from the writer’s part. The stream of consciousness was first used by William James. Through this technique the writer seeks to give the reader the impression of the continuous train of thoughts, emotions, moods and memories, as coming out mixed in the consciousness, without any rational sequence.
During the Thirties an important attempt to renew Modern Greek Drama also takes place. Many prose writers of the Thirties Generation, such as Theotokas, Terzakis, Prevelakis, are actively involved with drama and write theatre plays mainly focusing on history. The maturity and thoughtfulness of the authors of the time also spills over into literary criticism and many writers try their hand at the particularly difficult genre of essay writing. Important poets and prose authors, such as Seferis, Elytes, Terzakis, Theotokas, and less well-known ones such as Andreas Karantonis, G.K. Katsimbales, or V. Varikas take up critical essay writing.
Details of Period’s Anthology
Α. Writers: thirty one (31)
Β. Texts: Forty one (41)
1. Poetry: twenty four (24)
2. Prose: thirteen (13)
3. Theatre plays: one (1)
4. Critical works: one (1)
5. Essay: two (2)
C. Text language: Demotic