European unity, modern Greek identity and historicization of the Past : the 'Greek crisis' as perceived in contemporary literary texts

Abstract

The aim of this article is to examine the Greek and international aesthetic reaction to the phenomenon of the economic crisis. By examining Greek and international literary texts that depict Greece during the era of austerity, I attempt to explain how crisis is perceived in the literary field. Thus, I aspire to analyse the way in which this literature negotiates the terms economy, crisis, Europe, power and past. At the same time, I discuss contemporary literary images of the Greek Other; through a comparative study of Greek and international relevant texts, I aim to highlight the political and ideological rhetoric of the texts under examination, as well as the perception of crisis as a global issue, rather than a 'Greek adventure'. In that sense, the authors under examination do not simply dramatise the traumatic events of the recession, but they also suggest a broader definition of crisis, as a global phenomenon, discussing aspects of the contemporary European South and its balance with the European North.