What do we Mean by “Greek-Australian Literature”?

Abstract

The term Greek-Australian Literature has been used since the early 1980s both by Greek academics in Australia and by literary critics in general. In this article are examined the origins of the term and its function. It is shown to derive from the nationalist multiculturalism which was adopted in the 1970s by both sides of Australian politics and which tended to give a certain limited autonomy to the minority ethnic groups, on condition that they subscribed to the core values of the majority group, thus seeing themselves and being seen, as part of the Australian nation. This was particularly the case in Literature where minority literatures were seen as both miniature national literatures and parts of the national-now multicultural-literature. As miniature national literatures they provide a group identity even though they are actually read only by a small number of the group members and even though many of the texts included in them do not deal directly or openly with group identity que stions. Greek-Australian literature, one of many such minority literatures, has probably been the one that has gained most critical attention and been the most successful in the above terms.