De la voix des exilés à la musique de l’exil : lutter contre l’irréversible dans les romans d’après-guerre de Cosmas Politis
Kosmas Politis’ last three novels, Yiri (1944), In Hatzifrango (1963), and the unfinished Terminus (published posthumously in 1975), revolve around the themes of uprooting and the desire to return to a familiar place. The novels portray refugees from Asia Minor in Smyrna or Patras, or narrators who...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Centre d'Études Balkaniques
2024-10-01
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| Series: | Cahiers Balkaniques |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/ceb/21352 |
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| Summary: | Kosmas Politis’ last three novels, Yiri (1944), In Hatzifrango (1963), and the unfinished Terminus (published posthumously in 1975), revolve around the themes of uprooting and the desire to return to a familiar place. The novels portray refugees from Asia Minor in Smyrna or Patras, or narrators who have themselves been uprooted. Politis gives to these invisible presences a voice which origins are uncertain. They address a recipient, only fix point at their disposal, who can witness their vanished former life and receive the narrative of their memories. The stories highlight the challenge of representing a place that is forever destroyed and the fleeting nature of reconstructed images. The last two Politis stories use musical paradigms and references as a possible metaphor. Indeed, music is an art that allows the replay of notes that are irreversibly linked and that progresses in linear time. The Greek novelist employs this art to endow his novels with a universal, consoling, and lucid strength. |
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| ISSN: | 0290-7402 2261-4184 |