Το νεοελληνικό διήγημα την περίοδο του μεσοπολέμου (1918-1940): η κανούργια ορμή του είδους

Abstract

The shift of the short story from the center to the periphery of the Modern Greek literary canon is part of the complex literary and cultural revisions that occurred in Greece during the Interwar years. The thesis, based on the theoretical, historical and critical approach of the study material (literary works, critical essays, articles and literary reviews), explores the following issues: the context of the “short story - novel” juxtaposition, the problems and the intentions that were related to the hierarchical downgrading of the short story, the critical opinions on short story poetics, the impact that the broader intellectual and literary pursuits of the period had on the Greek short story, those features that the literary criticism of the period perceived and commented on as a manifestation of change in the field of the Greek short story; furthermore, literary works that follow the directions recognized as signs of the renewal of the genre poetics are examined. With regard to the last issue, it should be noted that in parallel with the recurrent severe criticism of the short story and the turn towards the novel, there were signs that the Modern Greek short story of the Interwar period had also made a turn whose direction can be detected through a new critical commentary that was being frequently repeated, describing features of an interesting thematic and formal renewal that was recognized as the “new impetus” of the genre.