Modern Greek Literature - Late 19th - Early 20th Century Literature (1880 - 1930) - Emmanuel Roidis, Georgios Vizyinos

Emmanuel Roidis, Georgios Vizyinos

Emmanuel Roidis (1836 - 1904), distinguished cosmopolitan writer and great stylist of katharevousa, became famous at the age of thirty, following the publication of his provocative novel, Pope Joan, in 1866. This sensational book was translated immediately into many European languages and was, until the mid-20th century, the most widely translated Greek novel. Numerous Greek editions have been published up to the present day as well as many new editions of the translations. Lawrence Durrell and Alfred Jarry are two of the many distinguished translators of Pope Joan. An astonishingly original and fascinating work, Pope Joan is the female Greek version of Don Juan. Roidis’ ambitious and cynical heroine wanders around medieval Europe in the ninth century.

Georgios Vizyinos (1849 - 1896), author of poems, short stories, children’s literature and essays of philosophical, psychological and ethnological subject matter, is thought of as the pioneer of modern Greek prose. According to Costis Palamas, he is a "short story writer-poet", who "has a penchant for novel writing" and his texts, "if published in a community better prepared to receive them, would constitute a great and unforgettable event". In a span of merely fifteen months (1883-1884) Vizyinos wrote and published five short novels in the magazine Hestia, thus opening the way for a new literary form and at the same time demonstrating unique thematic, narrative and structural inventiveness. The short stories Who was my Brother’s Murderer?, The only Voyage of his Life, The Consequences of an Old Story and Moskov-Selim deal with the controversial subject of relations and the terms of coexistence among Greeks, Slavs and Turks in the Balkans, as well as the dialogue between the Greeks of Greece and the Greeks of the Ottoman Empire and the Diaspora, and also between Europe and modern and ancient Hellenism. The symbolic function of language and the self-referring function of literature are reflected mainly in the short stories Between Piraeus and Naples and The only Voyage of his Life. These issues are also the subject matter of his poems.