akritas
06-04-2006, 08:42 AM
The historic developments and political turmoil after the liberation of 1913 (http://www.macedonian-heritage.gr/HellenicMacedonia/en/A3.3.1.4.html), combined with the lack of Greek literary tradition, immobilized intellectual life in Macedonia until the inter-war period (http://www.macedonian-heritage.gr/HellenicMacedonia/en/A4.2.html). Nevertheless, columnists (http://javascript<b></b>:openHotword('EB.4.4a.html');) writing on current events flourished impressively in Thessaloniki's numerous newspapers.
The first noteworthy publication appeared in 1920, when G. Modis of Monastir, inspired by the acts of the fighters during the Macedonian Struggle (1904-1908) (http://www.macedonian-heritage.gr/HellenicMacedonia/en/D4.html), began to publish his "Macedonian stories".
The founding of the University in 1925 by Alexandros Papanastasiou (http://javascript<b></b>:openHotword('EB.4.4b.html');) and of the Society for Macedonian Studies in 1939 gave a decisive boost to the cultural life of the region, while from the 1930s on, Thessaloniki, dominating the intellectual horizon of Northern Greece, earned a name for its own idiosyncratic and multifaceted literature.
The region's first important literary generation emerged from the pages of the magazine "Macedonian Days" (1932-39) and consisted of prose writers and poets who came of age as the multi-cultural Thessaloniki was vanishing and the Greek city was being born. If the liberation of 1913 formed the main milestone for this first generation, the Second World War and the Greek Civil War that followed it would leave their imprint on the second.
Several literary journals (http://javascript<b></b>:openHotword('EB.4.4.2.html');) played a decisive role in the city's intellectual life. In addition to the "Macedonian Days", others worth noting are the "Snail" (1945-48), the student journal "The Start" (February-November 1944), the journals "Criticism" (1959-61), "Diagonal" (1958-83), "Tram" (1971-72, 1976-79, 1983) and, more recently, the "Hangout" (1987-).
Literature after the liberation of 1913
The prose of Pentzikis (http://javascript<b></b>:openHotword('EB.4.4.2.1a.html');) , Delios and Xefloudas, which adopted the subject matter and style of the internal monologue, reflects the narrative styles of Joyce and Proust, while differentiating them from the prose tradition of the rest of Greece. The poetry of Vafopoulos (http://javascript<b></b>:openHotword('EB.4.4.2.1b.html');), Themelis and Karelli (http://javascript<b></b>:openHotword('EB.4.4.2.1c.html');), likewise introverted, was inspired by contemporary French symbolism to cultivate a poetic vision of death, time, and the existentialist dichotomy, often enriched by Byzantine nuances.
This poem by Zoe Karelli is a characteristic example of the introverted verse of the Thessaloniki School.
ZOE KARELLI
I do not weep nor do I sing songs.
But the self-rending that I'm preparing
is becoming more and more distressing.
in order to know the world through myself
to say what I have to say,
I who till now existed
to marvel, to be happy and to love.
Literature after the second World War
The first post-war poets, like Manolis Anagnostakis (http://javascript<b></b>:openHotword('EB.4.4.2.2a.html');), P. Thasitis and K. Kyrou, dealt with the blind alleys that circumscribe human existence in its relationships and interconnections with the social state of affairs, using understated tones and spare language.
Dinos Christianopoulos (http://javascript<b></b>:openHotword('EB.4.4.2.2b.html');), on the one hand, sketches the landscapes of both love and history with a rather introverted lyricism. In the same period, prose writing flourished once again in the person of Yiorgos Ioannou (http://javascript<b></b>:openHotword('EB.4.4.2.2c.html');), among others.
His prose, filled with memories of his birthplace and at the same time sharpened by the introspectiveness that marks the literature of Thessaloniki, establish him as its most representative story teller.
Manolis Anagnostakis' "Stochos" (Target) represents the social questioning typical of the poetry of the post-war generation.
MANOLIS ANAGNOSTAKIS
STOCHOS
The subject is n o w what do you think
We ate well we drank well
we lived our live well so far
Minor troubles balanced by minor gains
The subject is n o w what do you think.
The first noteworthy publication appeared in 1920, when G. Modis of Monastir, inspired by the acts of the fighters during the Macedonian Struggle (1904-1908) (http://www.macedonian-heritage.gr/HellenicMacedonia/en/D4.html), began to publish his "Macedonian stories".
The founding of the University in 1925 by Alexandros Papanastasiou (http://javascript<b></b>:openHotword('EB.4.4b.html');) and of the Society for Macedonian Studies in 1939 gave a decisive boost to the cultural life of the region, while from the 1930s on, Thessaloniki, dominating the intellectual horizon of Northern Greece, earned a name for its own idiosyncratic and multifaceted literature.
The region's first important literary generation emerged from the pages of the magazine "Macedonian Days" (1932-39) and consisted of prose writers and poets who came of age as the multi-cultural Thessaloniki was vanishing and the Greek city was being born. If the liberation of 1913 formed the main milestone for this first generation, the Second World War and the Greek Civil War that followed it would leave their imprint on the second.
Several literary journals (http://javascript<b></b>:openHotword('EB.4.4.2.html');) played a decisive role in the city's intellectual life. In addition to the "Macedonian Days", others worth noting are the "Snail" (1945-48), the student journal "The Start" (February-November 1944), the journals "Criticism" (1959-61), "Diagonal" (1958-83), "Tram" (1971-72, 1976-79, 1983) and, more recently, the "Hangout" (1987-).
Literature after the liberation of 1913
The prose of Pentzikis (http://javascript<b></b>:openHotword('EB.4.4.2.1a.html');) , Delios and Xefloudas, which adopted the subject matter and style of the internal monologue, reflects the narrative styles of Joyce and Proust, while differentiating them from the prose tradition of the rest of Greece. The poetry of Vafopoulos (http://javascript<b></b>:openHotword('EB.4.4.2.1b.html');), Themelis and Karelli (http://javascript<b></b>:openHotword('EB.4.4.2.1c.html');), likewise introverted, was inspired by contemporary French symbolism to cultivate a poetic vision of death, time, and the existentialist dichotomy, often enriched by Byzantine nuances.
This poem by Zoe Karelli is a characteristic example of the introverted verse of the Thessaloniki School.
ZOE KARELLI
I do not weep nor do I sing songs.
But the self-rending that I'm preparing
is becoming more and more distressing.
in order to know the world through myself
to say what I have to say,
I who till now existed
to marvel, to be happy and to love.
Literature after the second World War
The first post-war poets, like Manolis Anagnostakis (http://javascript<b></b>:openHotword('EB.4.4.2.2a.html');), P. Thasitis and K. Kyrou, dealt with the blind alleys that circumscribe human existence in its relationships and interconnections with the social state of affairs, using understated tones and spare language.
Dinos Christianopoulos (http://javascript<b></b>:openHotword('EB.4.4.2.2b.html');), on the one hand, sketches the landscapes of both love and history with a rather introverted lyricism. In the same period, prose writing flourished once again in the person of Yiorgos Ioannou (http://javascript<b></b>:openHotword('EB.4.4.2.2c.html');), among others.
His prose, filled with memories of his birthplace and at the same time sharpened by the introspectiveness that marks the literature of Thessaloniki, establish him as its most representative story teller.
Manolis Anagnostakis' "Stochos" (Target) represents the social questioning typical of the poetry of the post-war generation.
MANOLIS ANAGNOSTAKIS
STOCHOS
The subject is n o w what do you think
We ate well we drank well
we lived our live well so far
Minor troubles balanced by minor gains
The subject is n o w what do you think.