Generation of the '30s

[1] The previous Medieval and post-Byzantine Greek eras, which glorified religion, Jesus, and the certainty of Enlightenment thinking, were rejected by modernism.

Most notable among the Generation of the ‘30s is Giorgos Seferis, a Greek poet of the 20th century who instigated the turning point into modernity with surrealism in his poetry.

While the modernist movement began to rapidly transform Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was not until the 1930s that Greece witnessed the introduction of a new set of practices and formal innovations.

Because of the numerous negative historical events that occurred, such as the Greco-Turkish War and the subsequent refugee influx, high unemployment rates, and domestic instability, literature lacked optimism and a positive worldview.

At first, his cosmopolitan outlook was rejected; however, it was his perspective that eventually shaped modern Greek poetry and created a path for the Generation of the '30s to follow.

In 1929, Yorgos Theotokas published a major essay entitled Free Spirit (Ελεύθερο Πνέυμα), which became the manifesto of the flourishing Generation of the '30s, exemplified a desire to modernize Greek literature.

[5] The unification of all Greeks in one state would celebrate their “temporal continuity,” proclaim their “territorial integrity,” and serve as a “populist cause to mobilize the masses.”[1] This ideology is consistent to understandings of modernism.

Following the defeat of the Greco-Turkish War was the rout of the Hellenic army, the destruction of Smyrna, and the population exchange between Greece and Turkey.

[1] Based on anthologies of the period, politics were suppressed, and resultantly there was a focus on the aestheticization of space, the handling of unpleasant memories, and the inclusion and exclusion of foreigners.

His most notable pieces include “The Four Seasons” and “The Forgotten Army.” Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas, recognized as the leading Greek cubist artist, produced collage-like art which allows the viewer to see his work in different angles and perspectives.

His most notable pieces include “Small World of Webster Street” and “25th of March.” The Generation of the '30s produced novels including Life in the Tomb by Stratis Myrivilis, a journal of life in the trenches in WWI; Eroica by Kosmas Politis, which is about the first encounter of a group of schoolboys with love and death; and Argo by Yiorgos Theotokas, which deals with the struggles young students experienced during pre-WWII Greece.

Free Spirit demands closer ties with its culture and Europe through the introduction of utopian themes of departure and freedom in literature.