«Θαύμα ανάπτυξης και προόδου» ή «συνώνυμο του πρωτογονισμού και της προπαγάνδας»; Η πρόσληψη του βαλκανικού υπαρκτού σοσιαλισμού στη νεοελληνική κουλτούρα [''Miracle of development and Progress'' or ''Synonym of Primitivism and Propaganda?'' The perceptions of Balkan socialist regimes in Modern Greek culture]
| Title in English | ''Miracle of development and Progress'' or ''Synonym of Primitivism and Propaganda?'' The perceptions of Balkan socialist regimes in Modern Greek culture |
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| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2022 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | ???????µ?? ??? ???????? – ?µ?????µ?? ???????: ??????, ???????, ??????????, ???????µ?? (1453-2019) [Hellenism and the Balkans: two-way relationships: language, history, literature, culture (1453-2019). Proceedings of the 4th Conference of Neohellenists of the Balkan countries, Democritus University of Thrace, Komotini] |
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| Citation | |
| Keywords | Balkan Socialism; Balkan Myth; Communist Other; Ideology and Travel Literature |
| Description | During the period in which the establishment of the socialist regimes in the Balkan Peninsula takes place, the sealing of the borders and the concomitant isolationism arouse curiosity of both Greeks authors, as well as the Greek reading audience, concerning the prevailing actuality within the socialist regimes. Modern Greek literary evidence –mainly in the form of travel texts– that deals with the Balkans is growing. This, leads to the amplification of the Balkan myth, as it became known within the limits of the 19th century. At the same time the viewing perspective of the Balkan states shifts, as the promotion of the Greek national interests are put aside and it is gradually replaced by constructed narratives highly characterized by a clear ideological and political tone. As the ideological beliefs of Greek scholars are now prevailing and the perspective prism of the Balkans alters, the period between 1945 and 1985 constitutes a particularly interesting subject of study. At the same time, Balkan socialism acts also as a clear dividing factor between Greece and the Balkans; Through the texts examined, I discuss how the Greek literary depictions, stereotypes and motifs attributed to the Balkan, Communist Other mainly aim to disaggregate Greece from the Balkan unity. Moreover, I focus on the imaginary detachment of Greece from its Balkan context and I scrutinize the reasons which led to the intensification of a Greek sense of superiority over the Balkan Peninsula during the communist period. The isolationism that the Balkan states faced during Balkan socialism, and the ferocious instability in the Balkan Peninsula in the post-communist era came in strong opposition with Greece’s Europeanization at the same long period, leading to a consolidation of relative depictions of the Balkans, in the Greek literary production. Thus, through an extensive collection of the relative Greek literature evidence I aspire to demonstrate the existence of a certain disunity within Modern Greek culture –among the representatives of the Left and not only– which is related with the perception and the depiction of the Balkan communist regimes. Moreover, I aim to record and examine the main images and connotations with which the Balkans were linked in the Modern Greek imaginary during the communist period. |