The Boy in the Royal Box Rosy-Triantafyllia Angelaki (bio) and Meni Kanatsouli (bio) The year 2022 marks the anniversary of the tragic events of 1922, the year when a great number of Asia Minor Greeks were killed or exiled from their homeland and forced to seek refuge within the borders of the Greek state. The centuries-long hostilities between Greeks and Turks were rekindled in 1919 when, with the agreement of the Allied (Western) forces, the Greek army landed in Asia Minor and was enthusiastically welcomed by the Greek population of Smyrna. Although Smyrna belonged to the Turkish state, it was a cosmopolitan city with a large, flourishing Greek community. The Greek army, however, did not stop at Smyrna; instead, it advanced farther inland. The battle of the Sangarios resulted in the victory of the Turks, who marched into Smyrna and set the city on fire. The Allies did not help, and the Greek army could offer no assistance either. The Greeks of Smyrna were left helpless, and many lost their lives in their effort to flee, while others survived as refugees in Greece (Tusan 144-74). Greece was a poor state back then but did its best to accommodate the huge influx of refugees that poured into Athens. A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since 1922, but for many the violent uprooting from their homeland has never been forgotten. A lot has been written about the ousting of the Asia Minor Greeks: accounts from the refugees themselves, novels, leaflets and articles, photographical documentation, biographies and autobiographies, chronicles of a city, and films. Children's books have been written: The Girls in Sailor Suits (1991) and The Last Greek of Smyrna (2018) by Eleni Dikaiou, Nene from Smyrna by Elsa Hiou (1993), The Statue That Felt Cold by Christos Boulotis (1999), and Myrto and Smyrna of Miracles (2022) by Vasiliki Markaki provide quality material through which children today can formulate a clear picture of this traumatic period of Greek history. Το αγόρι στο θεωρείο (The Boy in the Royal Box) by Angeliki Darlasi was first published in 2017 and republished in 2021 as a special hardcover edition for the upcoming one hundredth anniversary of the destruction of Smyrna. The novel is about the coming of the refugees to Athens in 1922, but even in literary narrations of the past, the present is always there; therefore, it is reflective of the thoughts and feelings of modern Greeks who live in a country that still, just as in 1922, welcomes refugees within its borders. In the book, we bear witness to events as seen and felt through the eyes of a little boy, Drosos, who is at a complete loss about what is happening around him. In the first part, told from a first-person intimate point of view, and in the second, told in the more objective third person, we follow the flow of events of a displaced population who come to poverty-stricken [End Page 81] Greece and are forced to live in the Municipal Theater of Athens for lack of special refugee accommodation elsewhere. Drosos cannot accept the reality of his new situation or come to grips with having lost what is described as "his first, real life." He simply cannot believe that "this is his new life." How can he go from "the embroidered with lace white sheets" of his past life to this new life, where they have to count the bites of food so as not to starve? In the little refugee's new life, miracles can and do happen; the boy, however, is too deeply hurt to find any relief. He only cares about two things: to find his parents and to protect his little sister, Areti, who hides in a trunk and who disappears halfway through the story. The events that Drosos lives through are traumatic. He obsessively refuses to accept the fact that his parents are gone. He turns a blind eye to the reality around him and lives in a made-up world of his own. He believes that his sister is with him, that she is playfully hiding somewhere. Others realize that things are not at all the way Drosos imagines...
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Jun 27, 2024
Mariana Lenharo 
Open Access