Totalitarianism in times of Austerity : dystopian representations of power in contemporary Greek novels
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2025 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | NEOGRAECA BOHEMICA |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| web | https://journals.phil.muni.cz/neograeca-bohemica/article/view/42116 |
| Doi | https://doi.org/10.5817/NGB2025-25-5 |
| Keywords | totalitarianism; economy and prose; crisis; Modern Greek literature; European Union |
| Description | In my paper, I discuss the Greek literary responses to the phenomenon of the economic crisis that erupted in 2008. Dystopian narratives appear to be a popular narrative framework for authors dealing with the economic crisis during the decade of 2010. The purpose of this article is to examine contemporary Greek literary texts that represent societies under economic crisis and were written after the recent recession. Greek authors often used dystopian narratives to depict the relationship between economic politics followed by the European Union, the world system and authoritarianism. These literary works reflect the authors' experiences of the concurrent political and economic reality, serving both as literary responses to the economic system as well as critique to such systems. In addition, the literary texts under examination raise concerns regarding the growing power of economic institutions and their interaction with political power. Greek authors oft en construct claustrophobic narrative structures, to explore themes such as the erosion of individuality, pervasive state surveillance and escalating oppression. In that sense, I explore literary representations of "Economy", "Power", "Europe" and "Work" in times of austerity, discussing them in the wider context of dystopian fiction and the theory of totalitarianism. |
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