Greek Theater: An Annotated Bibliography of Plays Translated and Essays Written from 1824 to 1994

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

Greek Theater: An Annotated Bibliography of Plays Translated and Essays Written from 1824 to 1994 Stratos E. Constantinidis Preface Modern Greek drama has been performed and discussed in several European languages. This bibliography lists translated plays and original essays that appeared only in English. Therefore, the 182 entries that follow represent only a small sample of artistry and scholarship. I compiled this bibliography in order to guide beginning students of Greek theater who are not fluent in modern Greek. Modern Greek theater has been victimized by brief, sweeping generalizations in introductory surveys that beginning students find in encyclopedias and in general histories of Greek literature. These surveys, which discourage the further study of modern Greek theater by underrating its significance, inadvertently expose the limitations of their authors. For example, Myron Matlaw boldly—and, to a certain extent, unjustly—claims that “Greek drama in modern times hardly reflects the glories of its golden age” (Modern World Drama: An Encyclopedia 1972:318). Likewise, but more tactfully, Rae Dalven concludes that modern Greek theater is making an enormous contribution to world drama through the many revivals of classical Greek drama in translation, the production of countless foreign plays in translation, and the production of an “abundance” of original [modern] Greek plays (The Readers’ Encyclopedia of World Drama 1969:400). This cajoling “abundance” of original modern Greek plays, however, misconstrues the production record of modern Greek drama in the 1960s and earlier. A deprecating attitude toward modern Greek drama and scholarship is also shared by widely used texts such as Constantine Dimaras’s A History of Modern Greek Literature (1972), Linos Politis’s A History of Modern Greek Literature (1973), and Roderick Beaton’s An Introduction to Modern Greek Literature (1994). The above popular histories share, in addition, a [End Page 123] literary bias: they neglect the performance side of theater and give dramatic literature and scholarship only a cursory mention. However, a fair amount of modern Greek dramatic literature, performances, and scholarship is not second rate. Of course, modern Greek drama and theater have not yet benefited, internationally, from as systematic, extensive, or detailed an analysis as that accorded classical Greek drama and theater. I offer my brief comments below with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I know how presumptuous it is to attempt to describe or evaluate in ten-line annotations plays such as Kostis Palamas’s controversial Trisévyeni or the books of prolific scholars, such as Linda Myrsiades, whose work has not yet been fully discussed. On the other hand, I am aware of how indispensable a bibliographical guide can be for a more analytical and, one hopes, revisionist study of modern Greek theater. Dramatic literature Akritas, Loukis. “Hostages,” translated by Mary Gianos. In Introduction to Modern Greek Literature: An Anthology of Fiction, Drama, and Poetry, edited by Mary Gianos, 418–417. New York: Twayne, 1969. This three-act tragedy dramatizes the suffering of Greeks in a rural town near the border during the German/Italian occupation (1940–1944). Many young Greeks (such as Lambrinos) have taken to the mountains and become freedom fighters, killing enemy soldiers. In retaliation, the invaders would take Greek women, children, and elderly men as hostages. Then, they would torture, imprison, or kill them, especially if they were connected to Greek guerrillas (Arete and Photene), or if they assisted the freedom fighters in any way (Liakos). When the allied forces invade Italy and Germany, the Germans and Italians evacuate the Greek town. They feel that Greece, which at first seemed small and easy to conquer, now appears to be a gigantic, indomitable country. They attempt to break through the lines of the freedom fighters by using Lambrinos as a bargaining chip. Lambrinos is shot and they are apprehended. Anagnostaki, Loula. “The City,” translated by George Valamvanos and Kenneth MacKinnon. The Charioteer 26 (1984):55–72. This one-act play describes the “game” of a thirty-year-old couple, Elizabeth and Kimon. Elizabeth invites single, middle-class, lonely gentlemen to dinner in her apartment, makes them fall in love with her, expose themselves, and then throws them out with Kimon’s help. Tonight’s guest, a photographer, made a career with customers who wanted their...